Portrait Project

I was approached by a colleague of my son, to do a portrait drawing for her. As always I'm eager to please and have a go at a new challenge. So out came the old drawing equipment and started. I was relatively happy with the results: I say relatively, because as an artist one is never truly happy with the result. I tend to constantly look at the drawing with a critical eye. Every one said that it looks just fine, and the client was very happy with the result - thank goodness. Nothing makes me more unsettled that a unhappy client. This project has now motivated me to start doing portraiture again. Portrait drawing is one of the most unforgiving disciples in the fine arts (Well, at least in my opinion). For instance if you were painting a tree that you were seeing in a field, and painted in an extra branch, probably no one would notice or care. But if you were to place in an extra large ear on a portrait, that would not be acceptable. But then there are the infamous exceptions, notably Picasso. Have a look at how he painted some of his mistresses. Another notable artist that comes to my mind is Modigliani: he painted portraits with very long necks and no details to the eyes. Why is he allowed to get away with it and not everyone else. Well there a many reasons for this, but the one that holds the most weight for me, is the fact that he still manages to make the portrait recognizable. He has managed to focus on the single most noticeable characteristic of the persons face, high light that and WALA! Some might say that artistic license allows these artist to do what they want. True to a degree only - the final result must make make you think of the sitter. But then have a look at Picasso´s work - I think only he could know who the sitter was sometimes. But make no mistake - he can do very fine portraits in the old classical format, he was successfully doing that at the age of 12.