Painted in July, 2025. 12”x9”. Acrylic on stretched canvas. Price $108.00 Cdn. Unframed
Painting realistic portraits is always a big challenge. Since I haven’t tackled one in about four years, it was long overdue. I found a photo of my mother taken during her last visit to Vancouver six years ago, in late September. She was sitting in our dining room with late afternoon sunlight coming through the French doors, so I grabbed my iphone and got her to pose for some reference photos. The Fall sunlight had a softening effect, and her face was side-lit with well-defined shadows – perfect for a portrait painting.
Since my mother is now 93 years old, every conversation, every facetime, every visit is an opportunity not to be wasted. I’m not sure she would like the idea of me painting her portrait (she’s a little self-conscious), especially one that does a deep exploration of each and every wrinkle. Personally, I love all the imperfections, it shows a life well lived. I also believe that age makes for a more interesting painting. However, I might have gone overboard in this case as I spent a lot of time detailing every wrinkle and crease. Probably not the best approach for a portrait of your mother, but I enjoyed the challenge.
I used the zorn palette on this painting (yellow ochre, red, black and white). This helped me to avoid the problem of using too many colours. Compositionally, it’s a pretty standard head portrait. Because it is a relatively small painting (12”x9”), it has an intimate feel. I’m going to have to do a lot more portraits, however, if I want to get any good at it.
