This concludes my year-long biweekly studio blog. Thanks for your positive response to the details of my portrait process, inspiration and career achievements. If you are landing on this page for the first time, I invite you to browse the posts below to learn about my lifelong passion for portraiture.
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White House Portrait Galleries Washington, D.C.
I was fortunate to visit the White House during my recent stay in Washington, D.C.. Showcasing the iconic building's historic art and décor, the public tour encompassed a dozen rooms on the ground and state floors. Naturally, I was drawn to the presidential portraits and those of the first ladies. Among my favorites were John Singer Sargent's portrait of Teddy Roosevelt in the East Room and Anders Zorn's portrait of William Howard Taft in the Blue Room. The Entrance Hall featured both President Bill Clinton by Simmie Lee Knox and George W. Bush by John Howard Sanden. I was most thrilled to see the portrait of Ronald Reagan by my mentor, Everett Raymond Kinstler, hanging in Cross Hall. Kinstler's portrait of Gerald Ford graces the grand staircase of the entrance foyer.
My Sketchbook Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
After graduating college years ago, I worked a stint at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A chief job perk was the opportunity to spend lunch breaks sketching directly from my favorite museum paintings. At the time, most MFA-collection portraits by my heroes John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn were housed in the upper rotunda, just outside the library. It was my favorite location in the entire museum. Since then, I’ve returned to the MFA with my sketchbook many times. Today I’m sharing one such museum sketch of Sargent’s 1887 Mrs. Edward Darley Boit (Mary Louisa Cushing), mother of the four daughters in Sargent’s famous 1882 painting, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit.
Self Portrait Study
Painted from life a few years ago, this self portrait was completed in oil on a 5 x 7 1/4” linen panel. I wanted to focus solely on the light/dark pattern and chose to paint in an open grisaille (griz-EYE). Grisaille originates from the French word gris, or gray. An open grisaille is a painting method that uses semi-transparent gray or neutral tones to establish initial shapes of light and dark (Painting in a closed grisaille carries forward with the addition of white paint to achieve an opaque, full tonal value range using monochromatic tones). Here, using a single paint value, I sought to capture accurate shapes of the light/dark pattern to achieve proper drawing proportion and likeness.