It's ironic that when I began painting portraits, I was so excited about the prospects of painting the perfect portrait of a subject bathed in gorgeous north light with exquisite composition and well defined-yet smooth values. What I got was an old Walmart (you know the get 10,000 pics for 1.99 deal) photo. The subject in the photo was 3 years old, now 8, and the mother HAD to have that moment captured in time forever in a painting. Being a novice, I accepted the challenge. I changed a great deal of the original photo, removing the hokey backgrounds and props, to make it my own and offer some element of artistic composition. I was pleased, the mother was also. My next attempt was not so pleasant and I vowed NEVER AGAIN, unless it was the case of a posthumous portrait, end even then, I'll be extremely choosy as to the subject matter used.
Why is it that when people find out I'm a portrait artist, they say, "Oh!" and begin rummaging in their purse or wallet, pull out an old tattered wallet-sized snapshot and say, "Can you do this?"
UGH!
"No" is a difficult concept when you're a starving artist, but some "yes" responses may come back to haunt you! I don't know a single artist that hasn't learned this the hard way!
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