Meet the Young girls, Olivia and Julia — the lovely subjects of an oil portrait that I completed a few days ago. [ Click here to view the image full size ]

The girls' father (who commissioned the double portrait) came to pick it up on the very day it was finished, while it was still wet. (Parts were very wet indeed!) Nevertheless, I needed to record the work for my portfolio before it left the building. So within the short amount of time allotted, I endeavored to get a usable shot.

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Over 90 self-portaits of Rembrandt van Rijn are said to have survived to this day — making him arguably the most prolific self-portaitist of all time. Although the great Dutch master had no dearth of subjects willing to sit hour after hour, day after day, even month after month — he obviously found it deeply instructive to paint his own reflection, over and over and over again.

I, however, have nothing but dearth when it comes to subjects willing to sit for a live portrait; and as a result, I work almost exclusively from photographic references. But there is one model who is always on hand and happy to pose . . .

Me, Myself, and I (and Me Again, with Spouse)

Three of the works in this gallery are acrylic on canvas — and the last is obviously charcoal on paper. The first two are quick studies from life using a mirror and only four colors, and working alla prima — which means 

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Bear Medicine • 18.5"x24" o/c  |  Read a FREE EXCERPT from the book

The Safety of Triangles (click the image below for a larger view)

Composition is often the trickiest element in a work's success and I struggle with it as much as any artist. But I find that I can rarely go wrong with a triangular composition. 

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I was inspired to sketch our 16th President after reading Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin's book about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln. I got the idea for the title of the piece from something Carl Sandburg said in his trilogy on the life of Lincoln.

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