Portraits with Panache

Here are some portraits I did of my brother Jason’s family. They were kind enough to pose for me. Portraits are tricky, for both the artist and the model. The model has to pose for awhile {I said it would be an hour, but it took two). And it’s a crap shoot whether the artist’s interpretation will flatter the model’s idea of themselves or not. And for the artist….capturing likenesses can be tricky. Even if you do get the likeness, is the painting any good? Does it have spirit and panache?

Panache is important to me. In fact, a portrait with panache is really what I am looking for over likeness. Most people judge portraits by likeness, but we have cameras for that. We have artists for panache.

Avery - The Ruler of Elves

The great thing about doing a portrait of someone is that you get one on one time with them. It was a delight to hang with my niece Avery and talk about world politics, and generational issues and writing, and her name, which translates: Ruler of Elves. After I finished the portrait I mentioned that I thought it looked like Joan of Arc, and she said that Joan of Arc was one of her heros. Success!

Tricky Nici

This was my second attempt painting my sister in law Nici, and I did it from a photo (surrender). Still, it has a nice warm feeling. I liked the first one that I did at our live sitting (below) but it was all panache and not much likeness.

Caleb the Stoic

My nephew Caleb was the first to volunteer, and was quite a trooper, because he was feeling under the weather (we later found out he had strep throat!). But this captures him. I like the quasi-anime feel, the mood, the sharpness of shape and stroke, while at the same time communicating a softness. He’s thinking of starting to model (fashion, etc). He’s got the look, and fantastic hair!

It was so great being able to hang with my brother’s family. I was hoping to get to portraits of brother Jason and Franky (niece) and Parker (nephew) but beyond scheduling logistics there are lots of other reasons to not to want to have your portrait done.

It’s like getting a haircut that will never grow out, you gotta really trust the stylist.