Struggling With Likeness & 2022 Calendars 🧡

Today's Notes:
►Capturing Likeness
►2022 Calendars are ready for pre-order!

 

It's fun to be inspired by specific families, their stories and their photos. I have created many 100s of custom paintings and have had clients send zero photos (just descriptions) up to 190 photos! Sometimes mothers share full birth stories, and others share only names and/or ages.

 

I draw from what I get AND from what I have inside. It's a challenge that I like. Sometimes I have 25 customs in process at a time, and sometimes just one. They all get their fair share of my time and heart, I just move through the paintings mindfully. That is why it takes 3-8 weeks for your custom original painting to be completed. I refuse to rush :)

 

Something I struggle with: I have no desire to capture likeness.

My desire is to capture emotion, tenderness, joy and connection. For my custom clients I capture hair color and eye color, hair and body characteristics, and lots of love and energy. Often I'm told favorite colors, critters, and characteristics.

Occasionally I find myself twiddling over details like getting an eye or smile shape just right… and I have to stop myself. Twiddling leads to faces looking stiff and less lively.

I basically have two options:

1. Create emotion, not likeness. Yes please.
2. Try to create a likeness and fail, because that is not what drives me. We end up with a painting that looks like I tried but didn’t quite make it… no thanks.

A most-amazing thing is that frequently my clients say the painting looks 'just like their family'! I believe they are recognizing the love, personality and sweetness in their people - something beyond likeness. Life.

There are so many amazing photographers in the world to capture likeness, look at this one! So I will continue capturing movement, emotion, whimsy and magic as only I can do :) We all do what WE do, for a reason!

 

 

Thank you!

 Love & Sincerely, Katie