Thursday, September 3, 2009

This is “Called to Serve” Elder Staples. This is one of my favorite missionary portraits. The reference photos for this were taken in Zion Nation Park. Beautiful location, great looking guy, and some good shots made this a treat to paint. I sent this painting, framed and all, to the parents of the client who commissioned it. I have never heard what they thought of it. Sigh…
This was my first painting in the “Called to Serve” series. This is my nephew Jonathon Welch. I am honored to paint these missionaries. They willingly spend two years of their lives preaching the gospel and serving others at their own expense.

I painted this from a photo that I took before Jonathon left on his mission. I only had a handful to choose from. Now I take many, many more photos and I know what lighting I like best and how to get them to loosen up more. I painted this one summer on my parents back porch. The lighting was terrible and it was sooooo hot. Why am I always painting at my parents?

I wish I had a better photograph of this painting. This is Joel. He was so fun to take pictures of. If you look closely you can see that he didn’t have his shoes tied. He didn’t have socks on either but I didn’t paint it that way. One of my favorite things about this painting was his teeth. He had beautiful white teeth, teeth with character, not the Hollywood chicklet teeth. Apparently Joel was less enamored with his teeth because he has since had them straightened.


This is Christopher. I took the reference photos for this painting on the grounds of the Las Vegas Temple. When Christopher saw this painting for the first time he said “you did my sleepy eye.” I debated if I should change it and I had on the drawing but as I painted this image I thought that he was perfect just the way he was.



1 comment:

  1. I had made the comment that I didn't know what the family thought of the painting of Elder Staples. I have since been informed that they love the piece and that it is a treasure for them. I needed to make that clear. Thank you Chris for checking out my blog and letting me know.

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