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Will you travel for commissioned portraits? Are there any restrictions?
I do travel for commissions, for sure. Many customers have a favorite location that they've asked to have their portraits painted. This makes for a more personal portrait. It could be a favorite vacation spot, a place that holds sentimental value (e.g. childhood home), or simply a place of inspiration (e.g. a beautiful botanical garden). Personally, I enjoy the creativity it adds to the portrait. Customers cover travel expenses (travel, boarding, food allowance).
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What is the difference between an oil portrait and a pastel portrait? Is one better than the other?
The difference between the two mediums, in a nutshell, is this: oil is simply ground up pastel mixed with a binder such as linseed oil. In other words, both consist of pigment (e.g. "cobalt blue", "yellow ochre"); oil paint uses a liquid resin to disperse and bind the pigment to the support (e.g. canvas), whereas pastel relies on the tooth of the paper or canvas to bind it to the support. Both mediums can be equally permanent and archival. The resin in oil paint (e.g. linseed oil) hardens and becomes the protective barrier to the pigment. Pastel doesn't harden (there's no resin involved), but requires the protection of glass or Plexiglas. The caveat, though, is that oil resins can change over time (e.g. some linseed oils darken and yellow over time),though this has a lot to do with the care of a painting, and can be reversed easily. Pastel, on the other hand, not having a binder to darken or yellow, retains its original vibrancy. As for framing, both are framed identically, with the painting inside the edge of the frame (no mat).
Which to choose for your portrait? A few factors to consider: Cost: oil requires more time, so it costs more than pastel, which is direct (no drying time); Feel: some say pastels are "softer" than oils in their appearance; Tradition: if you are following suit with previous commissions (oil or pastel); Preference: you prefer not to have glass on your portrait (though I use the excellent brand Tru-Vue AR glass, which hides 97% of reflections). I enjoy both, and find that I can do some things in pastel that I cannot do in oil, and vice versa. Browse through examples of each and see which one you gravitate to.
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Do you work from life or photographs?
I work from a combination of both. You can obtain a lot of information from a photograph, but not all of it. A good portrait painter is not a camera, but a person responding to his or her subject. That's why it's important to not only look at an artist's portfolio but to find out what kind of person he or she is. People respond to life and others differently, and this shows in their work. Okay, I'm giving you more than asked for...
I combine a color study (for outdoor portraits or indoors when applicable) with photographs. The color study gives me information that the photographs never capture, and the photographs allow me to get a boat load of information in a short amount of time (i.e, my subject doesn't need to for 20-40 hours, but only 1 or so!). See my article Photographs or Life for a more in-depth take on this topic!
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Is any age too young to consider for a portrait?
Essentially, no. Photography allows me to capture subjects that normally would not be able to sit for an extended length of time. I remind my customers that "all I need is one good shot!" I may shoot a multitude of photographs, but all I am truly looking for is one good look. I can reference different photographs for the body, but the face demands that exquisite look we're after.
The other thing to consider is including a sibling or parent in a baby's or young child's portrait, perhaps sitting on a lap or resting in one's arms. Children are wonderful to paint with their sweet expressions.
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