Jordan Arbour Portrait

This is the commissioned portrait I just finished of Jordan Arbour.  He is an extremely gifted pianist who has overcome many challenges to be where he is today.  It was such a pleasure to paint this exceptional young man.  This is the largest canvas that I have worked on.  36/48"  Bigger is better.  I loved the freedom the larger format offered. 

I took hundreds of photo's of Jordan in his home as he played the piano.  It was incredible!  The setting was gorgeous as was the music that he made.  It was non-stop.  I loved the back lighting and the dreamlike quality that it gave. 

 

Did you notice the Steinway & Son's.  That was a fun little bit to include.  I almost added gold leaf.

I really wanted to play with the edges in this piece.  Close ups are great for showing this!

 

 

I loved the needlepoint cushion on the piano bench.  I grew up with something similar but not nearly as padded.  It was just another beautiful detail that I had to make sure stayed in a supporting role.

 

 

Jordan's brother and I thought it would be fun to have Beethoven making a surprised face. Reason prevailed.  I will check back through the photos and see if I got any of that expression before it was resolved in a more appropriate fashion.

 

This floral arrangement and bowl were lovely and I had so much detail in this area that it took attention away from Jordan.  I had to knock it back so the focus would remain where it needed to be. 

 

The Arbours are such an awesome family to work with.  I enjoyed having them drop by and check on the paintings progress.  I'm looking forward to seeing this large canvas framed.

Updating

 

 

 

It’s been a while but I’m finally making an effort to update this blog and my presence on the web.  I would like to thank my photographer for her help with this project. 

 

 

You can see her pictured here with me. You are awesome Starlee! She didn’t even charge me.

 This was at the last sitting. Cerise had been to my studio for four two hour sessions. She did a great job and I really enjoyed the time we spent together.


We listened to music and Cerise introduced me to “Nevershoutnever”. The song I associate with this portrait is “On the Bright Side”.

This is how I saw things.  I loved the fabric behind Cerise.  You will notice that in the image at the top the fabric was hung different.  We were together for the sittings once a week.  During the rest of the time things got moved around and changed because it is a multi use room.

Cerise (mother) and her husband came in to see the portrait at this time and were very pleased.  I was excited to see their reaction. 

When Cerise left after the last sitting I found the dark shadow line of the background in my composition very distracting.  Thank heavens the way the fabric draped on the last day was my favorite of all so after Cerise left I went back in and changed it.  You can see the change starting below.



After first sitting with Cerise

Cerise Arbour commissioned me to do a pastel portrait of her daughter Cerise. She wanted it done from life so “Little Cerise” could have the experience. Cerise (mother) had sat for a pastel portrait when she was little and remembered it fondly.

I had Little Cerise sit in my studio by the window. During the first sitting we had a lovely warm light and I wanted to stick with that. I was conscious of the cool shadows on the right side of her face and really wanted that to come through.
Cerise had such soft features. It was an exercise in subtlety for me. Hard angles and dramatic lighting are much easier to capture.




I had Cerise wear a shirt of mine at our first sitting because the dress that was to be in the finished piece had yet to come in. She came to the sitting in a yellow shirt and it was reflecting way too much of that yellow up onto her chin. The pink shirt softened that and made for a better transition into the final color scheme.

I took this photo to help determine the composition and get Cerise back into the pose when she came again. I posterized the image in photoshop to remove detail. She was a great model and held the pose very well. The first 40 minutes of our 2 hour sessions were great!

This was at the end of the first sitting.

Coulter Sitting

I was asked to do a pastel portrait from life so I had Coulter sit for me to get the feel for the medium again. He lasted for about thirty minutes and fell asleep! He was no good to me after that.


He did sit for me one more time so I could finish it.

Up and Coming

There are several new pieces and updates to be posted. I intend to get things added soon so please be patient with me.

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.