"The Art of The Portrait Conference" - April 22-25. 2010

I've just gotten back from the PSOA's annual portrait conference in Reston, VA, and I feel excited and renewed as an artist - ready to dive back in to the difficult challenges of painting portraits! There was such an amazing energy there all weekend, as hundreds of artists congregated in one place and talked about the one thing they all had in common: that one thing which drives us all. It's that beautiful obsession with skin tones and shapes and relationships between values and colors. It's our inward desire to create impressions of the beauty that surrounds us. We can't live without it, and yet we struggle with its complexities and our own limitations. Being a portrait artist is an amazing calling! In my latest newsletter , I talked about portfolios and how having a c… Read more »

"The Art of The Portrait Conference" - April 22-25. 2010

Finished Wedding Portrait

Over a year after their big event, I was recently able to finish my wedding gift for my twin sister Emily and her husband Blake. The reason for my delay? I was working from a black and white photo. I went through all of her wedding pictures and decided that this one was the best pose.  It was a great exercise for me - I used a few other color images to help me with color reference, but the best thing I did to overcome this challenge was to paint a head study of my sister from life. I'm fortunate enough to see her almost every week, as she too lives in the Dallas area (you can't keep twins apart for long!). Painting her from life sealed her skin tones, hair color, and expression into my memory, and I was able to get past some of the roadblocks and finish the portrait strong. Here i… Read more »

Finished Wedding Portrait