Portraits on Paper

Going Home, Melissa Muehleisen, 2020, 16"x20" pastel on board

Born 5 minutes, 2020, 16"x20" pastel on board

First Real Clothes, 2020, 12"x16" pastel on paper

Olivia, 2019, 11"x14" pastel on paper

Rainbow Baby, Olivia detail

Wedding Bliss, 2019, 16"x20" pastel on board

"Mmmmm...Ch-locate" 2018, 16"x20" pastel on board

Daddy's Eyes, 2018, 12"x16" pastel on paper

Innocent Happiness, 2018, 12"x16" pastel on paper

 

Elli's Beautiful Glow, 2019, 12"x16" pastel on paper

The Portrait Project

When I first graduated from college with my art degree in 2000 I painted portraits as a way to support myself. With my return to school for my Bachelor's and subsequent Masters degree in engineering, I found myself with less and less time to make art due to intense study time and found that on those rare occasions when I could create I wanted to make more expressive work like my figure drawings. However, during those years I maintained a vision in my head for the type of portrait I wanted to make: a photographic quality to the light and just the essential information to get the likeness across. 

In October 2017 I quit working in engineering and started focusing on my art. The year 2018 was a year of practice, learning and introspection for me. I wanted to incorporate manipulation of materials learned from my engineering work into my art and I quickly found my way toward abstraction. However, I have always enjoyed drawing and decided it was time to chase that vision of a limited information portrait that had been swimming in my head for so many years. This has led me to launch my 100 portraits project. This is the beginning.

For now, I am welcoming commissioned portraits as a way to complete my 100 portraits project. If you have been thinking about having a portrait created, I would love to talk more with you.