‘Going Big’ – The Beauty of Large-Scale Commissioned Portraits 

Large-scale paintings capture the intimate beauty of people and the nature that surrounds them.  Colorful, large portrait paintings have a way of catching your eye, making it almost impossible to look away.

Sometimes bigger really is better! 

From then on, every time I looked at the Woodpecker painting I was impressed by the way its array of colors jumped out at me from the wall. I decided that big was the way to go, but wasn’t sure how well portraits would fit in that large-scale painting mode. 

I painted my son as the Red Warrior (45" x 32") and thought the size was adequate. But when my niece visited us from Norway and I saw how much she had grown up, I was inspired to paint her really big!  Thus the first goddess was born - the Golden Goddess (48" X 72").

There was no turning back for me and I decided that painting large portraits is the way to go!! 

Finding beauty in unexpected colors 

When planning a portrait of my oldest niece who lives in Venezuela, I again asked for input on a preferred color scheme for the portrait painting.  After a late night of taking photos of herself, my niece told me she wanted a portrait in blues and greens.  This was a challenge, as those are not remotely close to skin-tones!! 

The completed portrait, the Blue Warrior, turned out beautifully!  I used blues, greens, silvers and white to create a cool and fresh portrait color palette.  This warrior painting, along with my daughter’s Violet Goddess and my son’s Blue Warrior portraits, have made me ignore any possible barriers when painting with extreme and seemingly difficult color combinations.  These challenges are now opportunities for me to discover new painting miracles! 

I live to create! 

The world of commissioned portrait paintings is a wide open road. I love painting new faces in whatever color scheme the model desires!   

Is there someone special in your life that you would like to commission a portrait of?

Helpful guidelines for close-up portrait photography

Here are a few tips to help you with taking a close-up photo for a portrait painting:

1. Be prepared to take lots of pictures.
2. Sit or stand in front of a dark, solid background.
3. Turn off the flash and use natural light or the light of a lamp positioned to one side of your face in a semi-dark room.
4. Avoid showing teeth or big smiles. (Ladies, we look better without wrinkles… a soft, relaxed face is best for us)
5. If you want to look straight into the camera, sit with your body facing your left or right, and then turn your face to the camera and look natural, not posed.
6. Be Peter Pan: Think happy thoughts!
7. Explore interesting angles – See examples in fashion magazines.  Play with body positions, laying down, reclined, use your hands to touch your hair or face, position one hand on the opposite shoulder, etc.
8. Camera man: Get as close to the subject as you can. Bigger images show better detail.
9. Don’t use that cute picture from your birthday that "Uncle Jack" took.  It's better to ask someone with a photographic or artistic eye.
10. Avoid group pictures – that usually means that your face is too small.
11. Save your pictures with high resolution. Large portrait painting magic cannot be done with pixilated images!  

If you are interested in a commissioned portrait painting of yourself or someone you love, please submit a contact form or submit a comment below.  I will respond to your request within 24 hours and look forward to working with you!

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For additional information on this Writings / Escritos article, please contact:

Mele Florez-Avellan

Source: Mele Florez-Avellan
http://www.meleflorez.com

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