Bali Portraits

I have painted portraits most of my life, starting as a child.  I find it to be the most intimate and pure form of artistic expression because it comes directly from a conversation that I have with the person who I am painting.  I started painting acrylic portraits while on extended leave in Bali.  I painted three self portraits one day, and some of the other people staying at my guest house saw them and asked me to paint their portraits.  I painted almost 90 portraits during my 4 month stay in Bali.  People enjoy the process because I do not make them hold a pose, and spend more energy getting into an engaging conversation with them than trying to capture their exact likeness.  I work fast and can complete a portrait in under an hour, and never go back later to work on the portrait.  Painting is not bound by photographic likeness, and happens over a period of time, so I like to think that the portraits stand as a record of the time we shared getting to know each other.  Painter and subject both performing for one another to create a work of art.