Why choose an oil portrait over a professionally done photo

[Chris Saper]

Such a provocative question! I find it amazing that so many people , wanting to compliment an artist, will say " Wow, looks just like a photograph."

When a viewer wants to compliment a photographer, he will say " Wow , looks just like a painting."

Clients are not always attuned to the idea that portraits should be art, not painted photos.When I have the chance to sit with a potential client, I try to make sure that he or she understands that my painting will NOT be photographically precise. Sometimes, you just don't know until the end if you were understood.

It's not that the viewer necessarily means to be disrespectful. Most clients aren't artists, and I think that their compliments are intended to be most sincere. They just don't see art the same way that we as painters see it.

The challenge is in matching the client to the artist. We're not going to change. It's not likely that the client will change. Better to find a different match than to take a doomed stroll.

You just have to throw your hands up in the air.. consider it aerobic exercise.