This is my latest portrait. It's a posthumous portrait of Arielle Cohen who was taken from her family at far too young an age. It was my great honor and privilege to be chosen to memorialize this very special person. The setting is a roof garden which she had designed. The book she is holding was a family favorite. First and foremost, I wanted to show what a proud and loving wife and mother she was. I had hundreds of photos of her and her family, as well as videos, and I was able to get a real sense of how fiercely devoted she was to her family.
This was a very challenging commission for me because, first of all, it was the largest sized portrait (49 x 68") with the greatest number of subjects I've ever had to paint. Also, the background was the most complex I've had to contend with. I felt it was imperative to be true to the garden since this too was her creation. I felt I needed to paint it faithfully and not just technique it out, to remain true to her spirit. I held back on the detail to keep it back and to also give the painting more flow, but everything is in it's exact right place.
However, my biggest challenge was that none of the photos I had of Arielle were in the proper lighting to match the scene. I realized that the only way to do this correctly was to sculpt her head. That way I could see exactly how the light would hit her. Since I had never sculpted a life sized head (or any sized realistic head for that matter) I had a pretty steep learning curve to traverse.
The entire time I worked on this project, there was a deep down nagging fear of what would happen if the family thought her likeness wasn't quite right. Fortunately, when they saw the finished painting and the father said, "It looks just like Mommy, doesn't it?" I felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders.
The family was very happy with the portrait and hopefully it brings them great comfort, because in this painting they will always be together.
For those interested in a more detailed look, you can go to my website,
http://www.fineartportrait.com, and click on the painting. You'll be able to click around the painting through a series of ever increasing blowups of details.
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