Artwork / Archives / 2013 / Oliver

painted portrait of a little boy
Gwenn Seemel
Oliver
2013
acrylic on panel
7 x 5 inches

Kids present endless challenges for the portraitist above and beyond the usual pitfalls of this complex genre. In this case, I’m referring to the completely unaffected way Oliver is touching his own face. There’s a subtlety to the gesture that is so very delicate, and it’s not something I was going for in this painting where I wanted the baby to look magical and a little strange.