Best Portrait Artists: Learning from the Best

Thinking back as I work on some new children's commissions as to how indebted I am to Connie Pratt, Constance Flavell Pratt, who used to teach on the Cape for weeklong classes. I regard her workshops to be where I learned the most in terms of personal study of the face and finding ways to capture the nuances of planes and values.

Above is a photo of her from a meet and greet art occasion and of me painting from the model in about 2002.

Children's Oil Custom Portraits: a sampling of my Girl's and Boy's Oil portraits

Here are a few samples of my Children's oil and pastel custom portraits. When I began in portraiture I painted mostly in pastel and mostly children, as the clean up time was quick and materials non-toxic, something I needed at that time. The portrait of the girl above is in pastel. The boy is in oil.

I attended weeklong classes at Connie Pratt's Master Workshop on Cape Cod. We'd be painting all day from life with a lunch break, so my skills were quickly honed: accurate drawing, development of form and use of the pastel to create volume. Those were delightful days and she showed me a few of her secret techniques, when she saw how serious I was to learn all I could. I am looking forward to getting started on a pastel this fall of a woman. Working in different mediums is a wonderful way to keep one's work fresh and alive.

www.soniahale.com

Sargent Watercolors (and oils) at Boston Museum of Fine Arts

The Sargent Watercolors exhibition is one of the finest I've attended. Not only were there watercolors, but oils so that you could truly revel in what Sargent was communicating about his feeling for his subject.

It was moving to see in person his gorgeous paintings of his family including his sister Emily Sargent and niece Rose-Marie a frequent model. Seeing photographs of his settings in a few sparse places gave more information that I appreciated.

Sargent did not like to let go (or sell) of his watercolors and I could well see why. This is a fantastic quote from the exhbition catalog: "Sargent's watercolors 'were not to be obtained for love or money, but to fall to the lot of such of his friends as wisely as marry for them for wedding gifts or tumble out of a gondala and need consolation.' " Written by Edward V. Lucas, a popular Bristish writer.


Sonia Hale is an award-winning, nationally-collected artist in Boston. She paints commissioned portraits for families and institutions nationwide. Her original landscape and still life oil paintings can be purchased at http://www.soniahale.com. For more information, go to http://www.soniahale.com. You can reach her by email at soniahale1@gmail.com.