On Portraits

“For me, there are few things more exciting than to make a new friend through the painting of a portrait. Our characters, our understanding of life, our public and private images are all an amalgamation of the different experiences that we have encountered along the way, the writing of which can be found in our faces, revealed in our expressions and understood through our everyday gestures. It is through painting a portrait, that one can try to capture these different aspects of character, and mould them into a unified representation of each sitter, which reveals the sitter’s unique character within a context of their universal human dignity.

I feel that painting a portrait is a two way process, uniting artist and sitter (and often the whole family!) who work together towards a shared goal. To this end, the sitter is able to watch the work develop and is encouraged to offer feedback throughout.”

Arabella Dorman 2011