Way fun!

The painting I've just posted at left is one of my favorites. It was painted entirely from life about fifteen years ago, when I was leaving Montana. It was sad to leave good friends and a beautiful place to live, but such is life. My friend Bonnie sat nine times for this, and the parrot at least three times. To be more accurate, he stood around and walked up and down her arm a lot. No photos were taken to work from, and the result is a more profound character study than just copying a single photo can ever be. The best portraits are made when the sitter invests his/her time and allows the artist to observe and know the character that sometimes doesn't carry through a lens.