Killian

With clients on all continents except Antarctica (penguins are apparently not big fans of my work) I rarely, RARELY meet my clients. Not knowing what someone “really” looks like can be a blessing and a curse. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I only have a 2-dimensional photograph for reference. So on the few occasions where someone says, “that eyebrow isn’t quite right” or “her eyes look brown in the photo but they’re really green” I have the excuse of not really knowing the person to ease my ego.

When I paint someone that I know personally – my family, my pets, my friends – I burden myself with an extra layer of artistic responsibility to “get it right.”

When our friends Ari and Amanda were married this spring, I knew I wanted to paint a portrait of adorable Killian. Unbeknownst to them, I trolled Amanda’s Facebook page for this great shot. (Fact: internet snooping is one of my superpowers.)

I was pretty pleased with the likeness. Amanda told me, “The painting is prettier than he is!” Which of course is not true but I am not above taking a compliment at the expense of a child.

They had a lovely wedding, worthy of a bridal magazine, no joke. And someone managed to capture this photo of me with Dr. Rossman in his beard-y glory. It’s seriously better than the photos we had at our own wedding. I don’t know who took it but god bless you.