Here was my experiment: I found a portrait of Churchill by Sickert in the National Portrait Gallery. With so many different techniques exhibited there, this one stood out--3 strange colors, painted almost roughly, but somehow it captured Churchill. The room was filled with amazing detailed portraits, but yet this gave me all the information I wanted. Using this painting as a reference, I started out to paint my cat, Snuggles. I seemed to be getting somewhere, and I love the coloring, but didn't have the bravery to add more definition in the right way. This was acrylic and I will switch to oil in the light someday and do it again. I always remember Thiebaud saying in a lecture (at 91 years of age), "I'm always touching up paintings." And I like the quote by John Singer Sergeant--a portrait "is a likeness where there is something wrong about the mouth." The key is to keep painting (and to know when to walk away, I imagine). Of course I can always paint Snuggles again. She's very photogenic, and wouldn't mind another sitting. Even if I had painted the Churchill painting, I would never feel quite right about that middle shadow on his nose or his ear...
