Persistence

"Kate Comes Ashore" is a personal study in patience and persistence, and I am pleased to say she is finally getting the attention her little self deserves.

I took the photo of my BF Donna's daughter Kate way back in '99. I held on to it until about 3 years ago, when I (finally) felt I had some of the skills necessary to do her justice in a painting.

I used scale and a grid on something like a 1:5 scale to work out the proportions. I painted the face with the image and the canvas upside down to force the L-R brain shift and make me see what the shapes of her face REALLY look like, not what my left brain thinks a face looks like.

The first few times I showed her, the reception was less than enthusiastic. I really got a little paranoid about what people were telling me about her, because I have no experience with portraiture and I had to go back and work out issues several times. I persevered, and now she has a play date at the Museum of Florida Art in DeLand for Florida Biennial V from April 9th through May 30.

BTW: the painting looks just like her at age 4.