Art of the Portrait Conference - The Twenty Finalists

Here are the twenty finalists in the Portrait Society of America's 2013 International Portrait Competition.

(in alphabetical order)

Leslie Adams

T. J. Cunningham

Marina Dieul

Kerry Dunn

Glenn Harrington

Seth Haverkamp

Jeffrey Hein

David Kassan

Cheng Lian

Serge Marchennik

Lliya Mirochnik

Greg Mortenson

Richard Christian Nelson

Alicia Ponzio

Mardie Rees

Lynn Sanguedolce

Mary Sauer

Ardith Starostka

Katherine Stone

Jennifer Welty



Congratulations to Grand Prize winner Leslie Adams!

"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl"   60" x 41"    Charcoal

You can check out the Portrait Society of America's Face Book page to see the other award winners.

Art of the Portrait Conference 2013 - Day Two

Day two of the Portrait Society of America conference began with an "Oil and Water" demo by Michael Shane Neal and Mary Whyte. They painted in oil and watercolor, respectively, and worked from the same model, artist Sam Adoquei.  The audience could view the progress on large screens in the auditorium.

Later on, James Gurney, author and artist best know for his illustrated book series "Dinotopia", gave an entertaining presentation about his experiences of sketching "in the wild".  It was truly inspiring to see his dedication to drawing from life wherever he travels.  He had many stories about interesting and sometimes hilarious encounters with people and animals as he sketched them. (Check out his entertaining and informative blog at Gurney Journey.)

The "Face-Off" winner's demo next...

Art of the Portrait Conference - Opening Night

I spent the weekend in Atlanta at the Portrait Society of America's "Art of the Portrait" Conference.  The four day event began with a "face off" where 15 artists in groups of 3 painted 5 different models.  They had about two and a half hours to produce a portrait.  The next day the conference attendees (825 people!) voted on their favorite.  The chosen artist then did a demo for us on Saturday.  (I'll show that soon.)  Here are some of the artists in action.

Michelle Dunaway

Lynn Sanguedolce, Jeff Hein and David Kassan

Quang Ho

Sherrie McGraw

Joseph Todorovitch

More to come...

The Unveiling

Last week I was in New York City at the New York County Lawyers Association for the unveiling of the portrait of their most recent past president, James Kobak.  At the invitation of Mr. Kobak I did the honors of lifting the veil and it was indeed an honor to be there on this evening of celebration and appreciation of his tenure in office.  I was also honored that Ruth Reeves of Portraits Inc. was in attendance and I am grateful to her for securing this commission for me!

"Mr. James Kobak"   40" x 30"   Oil