A Couples Portrait

I started this commissioned couples portrait last weekend. Old friends Pat and Tom Heslin were staying at their weekend home in southern Maine (they live in RI) and drove up the coast in an ice storm Saturday morning to be the first to sit for a portrait in my new studio! Unlike the recent marathon portraits, this piece will be more finished, and will require more time. Ahhh, the luxury of time! There is something freeing and fun about setting a time limit and working fast and furious, and there is something calming and satisfying about taking my time. Both ways of working are valid and yield different results.

Pat and Tom sat for 2 hours, and I took a bunch of pictures as references to work from. I've worked this way before, some examples: here, here, and here...and am becoming more comfortable with relying on my memory and the photos to resolve a portrait. I may ask them to sit one more time, we'll see.

Pat and Tom are going to send me some images to integrate into the portrait - possibly photos of the shore. I have started to sketch in a bouquet that is in my studio, and the horizon over the river out my studio window. This will most likely all get buried. It will all morph and change, and here I offer you a view of the beginnings.

Process, process...