30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Day 9

“Lost In Thought”

10″ x 8″ Original watercolor on watercolor paper.

There is a belief within the art community that the subject of a fine art portrait must not be smiling. I do not know where that originated or why. But I do know it is difficult to find photos of people who are not smiling. Interesting, isn’t it? Recently, I was very pleased to add one to my collection of photos for art.

I truly enjoy portrait art and have done many; in fact, I once considered making it my only focus. However, it is very difficult to please the person you are painting or the one who commissioned the painting. I soon learned it was too much like my days in commercial illustration, where I created art ordered by another…usually with them standing over me, evaluating the art as I worked.

The great portrait painter, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) once said:

“A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.”

That makes me laugh every time. So true! I think Sargent eventually gave up portrait art all together. Maybe not. But I’ll bet he didn’t have a self-imposed deadline of “30 paintings in 30 days” to accomplish. Ha!