Can You Do Better?

Still in high school when I began accepting commissions to paint portraits, I branched out from only private to corporate ones when I moved to Indianapolis in the mid 1980's. Once the word got around, I stayed busy with both genres of portraying subjects in various settings and environments. Of course, the corporate portrayals were much more straightforward and to the point, than those depicting subjects at ease in their homes or engaged in outdoor leisurely activities, and with pets and horses, etc. I always make it a point to collaborate as fully as possible with the subject. Once I'm confident that we agree on the general feel for the finished painting, then the business part of the commission is arranged, photo session(s) scheduled, and I get started.

(In the event the portrait is a posthumous one, then I must decide if existing photos provide enough visual information for me to accurately portray the subject. And yes, I've accepted those and executed them...another story for another post.)

As corporate portrait commissions go, this was one of my favorites. After receiving a request for me to call Ken Thompson, an architect and builder, about painting his portrait for his company's boardroom, I did just that. We set an appointment and I showed up, on time, with portfolio in hand. But Ken had already leaped right over the formalities. As soon as I entered his office, he stood up from behind his desk, strode across the room to me, grabbed my arm and said he needed me to go with him to take a look at "something". On the way out the door, he told the secretary we'd be back in half an hour.

I protested and balked, but it was no good. "Just get in the car!" Ken barked. Shrugging, I did so. He laughed, backed out, and drove up the road to a colonial settlement with a portrait there that had been painted at least 100 years earlier.  "Can you do better than that?" he challenged, pointing at the canvas hanging on the wall.

"Pshaw!", I retorted, deciding to give Ken back some of his own highhanded manner. "I painted better than that when I was in kindergarten!" Wound him right up, I did.  Snorting in outrage, my prospective portrait client demanded to know what was wrong with his iconic choice of the "perfect" corporate portrait? 

Hands on hips, I began the critique in my best college art instructor's lecturing voice: "To begin with, the hands are tiny," I pointed out. "Obviously, the artist had no notion about how to accurately scale body parts to match the size of the face." Cocking my head and narrowing my eyes, I considered the antique portrait. "Either that, or this man actually had teeny hands." Glancing at Ken, I saw that his expression was now somewhere between chagrin and barely suppressed humor. He nodded, urging me to continue. "Well, and just look at how close to the top of the canvas the man's hair is. Tell me, Mr. Thompson, would you design a structure with ceilings so low that the average person's head bumped up against them?"

"That's enough!" he snapped, "let's go!"

"Can't stand to be wrong?" I teased, somehow knowing he wouldn't take offense. I was right about that, too. A big part of successfully portraying anyone, human or creature, is in being able to "read" them. To intuit their personality and to understand what makes them tick. By this time I already knew that Ken Thompson was every bit as exacting about the quality of his architectural designs and construction projects as I am about my artwork. I also knew that he was willing to be educated. We were two of kind in that way.

Ken looked at me, his expression rueful.  Then he clapped me heartily on the shoulder, nearly knocking me off my business meeting heels. "Well, you're the expert, young lady. Let's get back to the office and cut you a check so you can get started making me look better than that obviously poor example I foolishly chose to admire." Shaking his head, and trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile, Ken and I headed back to his office. I photographed him a week later...well, and that's another story in itself!

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