In the Studio- painting "Charlie"

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I am painting three beautiful children for a Maryland family. The second portrait is a pastel on paper of Charlie. Both Charlie's and Matthew's are pastel on Canson paper, each 16" x 20", which is an ideal size for children's portraits (adult Head & Shoulders are more comfortable on a 20" x 24" or 20" x 28" sized canvas when painted life-size). Charlie and I had a couple sittings to capture his true personality. I learned a long time ago that, when painting children's portraits, I'm not painting necessarily what I see, or even what the camera sees, but I must paint what the mother sees in her child. I recall one portrait where a dozen people had seen a portrait on my easel, each commenting that I had "really captured to a 'T'" a child's likeness only to have the mother say upon her first view "That's not my child!" I realized then and there who my true audience is when it comes to children's portraits! Stay tuned for more on the portrait process.