When I first started painting, I mainly focused on landscapes and seascapes. A patron (soon-to-be friend) in Greece asked me for a portrait of his grandson, who was about three years old at the time. I told him I didn’t do portraits. He said, “Well, it’s about time you do.” He now owns over 20 of my paintings; when I was just starting out, he owned about 5, so I smartly decided to keep him happy.
I followed the kid around for half a day, taking photos and doing quick sketches. He moved around a lot. I played with him for the rest of the day. He always seemed to be on the edge of bursting into laughter when he wasn’t laughing—something he did a lot. I had a good time with him. I spoke with my patron about the kind of approach he was looking for: how big, horizontal or vertical, detailed background or not, color scheme, etc. I took my sketches, notes, and photos home and painted the painting over the summer.
When I brought it to Greece that September, a driver was waiting for me at the airport, and I went to my patron’s amazing apartment in Athens. He was still working. It was quite hot, but he left me a Cuban cigar and one of the most memorable bottles of chilled white wine I have ever had. I sat on his huge balcony, which was almost like a little farm up five stories with lemon trees, flowers, zucchini, cucumber, tomato plants, and a few small palm trees. It was quite lovely waiting for him. His daughter came over first and saw the painting. She claimed it for her own. He came home to find it was no longer his! They both loved it, and I must admit that I also liked it.
I don’t have a single technique for a portrait. I have done monochromatic and color portraits; they have had detailed, quasi-detailed or abstract backgrounds. All of this depends on what the client wants. If possible, I would like to meet the people I am painting with and get to know them. This helps define my approach.
There have been fun and difficult challenges. I have been given postage-stamp-size photos to work from, a photo from an old folding phone, and horrendous photos with lots of teeth! Teeth are the worst. So far, I have managed.
I have learned now to be the one to take the photos and sketches of the subject, or I need to really really like the photo provided for me. I generally like more than one photo, so the painting breathes—and has no teeth!
I have also been getting into figures, and that was also because patrons were interested in paintings with figures in them. The more you do, the better you become.
Portrait commissions are particularly challenging and rewarding. While I am not ‘known’ as a portrait artist, I enjoy them and continue to receive commissions for them.