Andrew

[Michael Fournier]

This is a good example of the fast, small portraits I have been doing recently. This is also a new style for me.

Since I want to sell more work but have found fewer people who can afford to spend a lot on a portrait, I started to think how I could sell more and still get enough money to live on.

I thought if I had to sell paintings for less, I had to sell more of them to make the same money. So the answer I came up with was to paint smaller (less material cost) and paint faster. So this style is the result.

This is 9" x 12" inches and was done in about 4 hours - that's total time, including sketches and taking reference photos.

Story behind this painting:

This kid did not sit still for more than 10 seconds at a time. His mother wanted a formal painting, but it was very hot and he just kept taking his shirt off. I kept taking pictures and this was one of the moments when he took his shirt off, with his hands wrapped up in it, on his lap.

I liked the way he was shrugging his shoulders, and when his mother saw it we both agreed this was more Andrew than any of the images with the shirt on.

I usually do sketches and start from life but this kid would never sit for that, and my digital camera was key to getting this painting done at all - never mind in just 4 hours. I was able to take reference photos, edit out the ones I did not like, then show the ones that I thought would work best to his mother.

I then did a sketch to lay out the painting and show the client what I would edit out of the photo, once approved. We talked a bit. Then, once they left, I stared to paint. Three hours later I was done.

I think I like this new direction. I always thought my paintings before suffered from being overworked, and as I do more of these, I am getting better at this.