Painting of Lauren Bacall Done as a Demonstration for a Portraiture Workshop

Demonstration Painting of One of the Classiest Ladies Who Ever Lived, Lauren Bacall

Lauren

16" x 20"

oil on canvas

After spending a considerable time on the internet I could not find to whom this photo is attributed to. Nevertheless, it was the subject I chose for a recent workshop I held on portrait painting. I painted it as a demonstration for eight art students who then painted their own version with my guidence.

Painting portraits poses a special challenge. The idea that the subject is a person rather than a flower, beach scene, mountain or some such thing is often intimidating. In addition, if you are painting a landscape for example, you can take out a tree or move a hill to improve the composition. Obviously not so much with someone's face. During the demonstration I turned the photo and painting upside down in order to paint while focusing on the interplay of shapes however subtle they might be.