Samantha
 

This is a portrait of Samantha, a beautiful little jewel. I call this a portrait vignette. It has a more spontaneous quality than a fully realized portrait which I felt was perfect for portraying her. At the same time I was able to resolve the subtle modeling of her face. I have included a couple of enlargements.

There was no preliminary drawing. I just started drawing with fairly transparent paint on a canvas toned with a thin umber coat.

Sweet, Sweeter and Sweetest
 

How sweet she is, indeed! As usual Marvin, you have created another lovely painting!

Lovely Marvin. She is a cutey pie. I always love portraits that show parts that are unfinished or the bare canvas. Its like one of Michelangelo's unfinished scultures. This is one of your masterpieces Marvin. Congratulations.

OH MY Marvin, all of your portraits are wonderful, but since children's portraits are near and dear to my heart, and I happen to have a daughter that looks much like this child...this one made my heart skip a beat! Simply beautiful!

So beautiful, Marvin!

This one is truly a jewel. I know this because I held this (small!) painting in my arms and had to resist the urge to run down the hall with it and flee the jurisdiction.

Linda,

You have made a terrible mistake. What's the worst that could have happened? Six months at Ellis Island? Well worth the price paid.

Thanks Marvin, I am someone that learns from seeing, more so than hearing or reading. These examples help me a great deal.

Lovely, Marvin!

Wow!

Marvin, :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I love this one, my favorite of yours so far. Must be the unfinished quality, she looks like she's able to move around and not confined to a stiff environment.

Next time Linda, pepper spray Marvin, then quickly hand him a blank canvas of the same size before he can see again, and run for the hills. Well, that's what I would have done. Ok, not really.

Once again, great work.

Marvin,

You are truly a modern day Bouguereau! I love the vignette. Super.

My favorite too! A lovely little jewel of a painting depicting a little jewel of a child.

34 more days until Atlanta workshop . . . OH BOY, OH BOY!!!
This is beautiful, I want to cup her cheek in the palm of my hand! I actually had a very emotional reaction when this came up on my screen. When you say small, how small is the painting?

I can tell I will be coming back to view this painting every now and then.
There is a term used here whenever one sees fantastic things, or has great experiences, although tempted, I will refrain from using it ...
Exquisite.

Carlos

Wow! Thanks for your kind words. I just got back from a long day of teaching and this terrific response is a real treat indeed. As Clint Eastwood once said, you made my day.

The size of the painting is 14 x 18 inches. Linda if I knew you wanted this painting I certainly would have given it to you. You should have asked. Oh well.

An interesting note, this sweet little girl is the great grand daughter of Sylvia (at seventeen). http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=3553

Thanks again everyone.

Well Marvin,

I go away for awhile, come back and here this is!!

The nose, the nose is so RIGHT!! The magical way you use paint to express something like a child's boneless nose at the bridge is amazing. I love this - and love seeing that you sketched it in and of course, ended up with perfection.

Her expression is so wonderful and she looks like she is in slight motion.


Thank you as always for being there for us all!!


Denise

Hi Denise, welcome back. Thank you for your compliments.

She has the most animated little face I've ever seen. Her fleeting expression changes instantaniously, dramatically reacting to every word she hears. She reminded me a lot of Shirley Temple in this regard. She is also incredibly bright and perceptive. I was very fortunate to capture this particular expression. The greatest thing about using a digital camera is that you leave knowing you have just the right image.

Now my question to you is what have you been up to? BTW, it looks like I'll be returning to Durham in May. Hope to see you there.

Breathtakingly perfect!

Marvin--

Just wonderful! Thanks for always raising the bar...

Best--TE

Simply Great!

Do you prime your canvas yourself?

Erika, Tom and Claudemir, thanks, I really appreciate your feedback.

Tom, I think that some of those dead artists have set the bar ridiculously high. Today I just received a book I ordered on Joseph DeCamp. Wow! Was he ever good. He was considered the top portrait artist in America during the first part of the 20th Century. I had seen his last painting at the museum in Atlanta and was blown away.

Claudemir, I used Claussens SP13. I'm too impatient to lead prime my own and wait until it cures.

The color was pretty darn close, but I still tweaked it a bunch. I never copy color exactly. I try to enhance the effects I see as relating to the scene I'm creating. If you would compare the complexion of a Bouguereau painting to a real person his color looks wrong. But in the context of his paintings it's so incredibly lifelike.

For whatever reason I cannot for the life of me reproduce the subtle color changes I paint when I shoot my work, so what you're seeing here is missing a lot of nuance.

I used the Alkyd primed Claessens (is this the right spelling). It has a little more tooth than the DP13 and I like the way it grabs the paint. I have still not found my perfect canvas so I'm always trying different ones. This is the canvas I use for my demos and when doing alla prima (one shot) portraits.

This portrait was actually commissioned as an alla prima painting but was not done from life due to her age. When I finished the alla prima stage I felt that I wanted to keep refining her face and just I kept painting for another couple of days. Thus was born my new genre...The Portrait Vignette, which combines elements of both my finished and more spontaneous approaches.

Marvin--

We probably have the same DeCamp book. He's one of my faves. "The Blue Mandarin Coat" at the High Museum in Atlanta IS gorgeous.

Best--TE

If you're gonna quote movie stars, Marvin - let me quote that estimable thespian Keanu Reeves: "Whoa..."

Correct me if I'm wrong (has that ever happened?), but this is a benchmark piece. I just love the juxtaposition of your highly polished style against the spontaneous look of the underpainting. A perfect foil, if you will.

I also think it's terrific that this is the great-granddaughter of your subject in Sylvia at Seventeen. Generations of Mattelson portraits! Pretty cool, no?

You had best enter this in a few portrait society juried shows. I predict Prix de Rome!

Best,

Rob

She is beautiful Marvin, this is one of my favorites of your paintings.


I don't know Mike... I was just at Ellis Island two days ago, and have newfound respect for people who made it to (and through) there. It was interesting looking at their photo portrait wall of faces from around the globe.

Anyway, thanks for posting this Marvin.

Holly

Thanks Rob, the Prix de Rome would be nice (four years in Rome!?!), but I don't think that's an option these days. Maybe the Booby Prize is more like it?

Holly, I'm glad you like it. I too am exploring ways to get looser and not sell out my soul. It worked in this case anyway. I think Mike was referring to Rikers Island when he suggested Ellis Island. Rikers is a prison while Ellis is where the immigrants were processed.

I was meaning Rykers Island. Too much island rum.

Marvin,

Finding the words adequate enough to express my level of appreciation of this painting will fall short of the techinical and emotional impact that it provides. Please accept
Very well done.

Thank you Jim. I'm very touched by your sentiments.

Marvin,

For what it is worth, I think you are a gem yourself. I've said it before and I will say it again, not everyone who paints really good is a really good teacher. I am proud to be on the list of people who choose to learn from you.

Just one thing.........can you get me there sooner? ; )

How do you sleep at night knowing you can paint like this? She is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for the acknowledgment. I m very thankful to be able to do what I do. I don't think it makes me better than anyone else, just different. People who are arrogant because they excel at something are missing the point. Every day is a blessed event.

I believe true artists always have an eye peeled toward improving, regardless of their level of achievement. I know the more I learn, the greater my thirst for knowledge.

My to-do lists are filled with far more entries that I can ever hope to get to. When my head hits the pillow there is no problem asleep.

Wow Marvin, What else can I say that everyone here has already said.

Thank you for logging on and sharing your truly special talent and skills and for being such a nice guy.

Question: If I became a stowaway on a ship bound for America, could I find my way to your Atlanta workshop?

My only problem is here I am with my bag, paintbrushes and $20 in my hand, I am walking out my front door to find a ship/plane/truck/spaceship, to take me to one of your workshops straight away, just as I hear my 14 year old son in the background crying to me saying, "Don't leave Mum, who will cook and clean for me, I am too young to be left alone, aren't I more important than your art career"?

Hmmmmm, ?@#!#... as I sit on the front stairs with my bags and brushes in my hand, one foot ready for takeoff but my heart saying to stay.

Hmmmmmmm, Marvin please live a long time so when I save enough money so I too can gain the valuable tuition that others here talk about. **** Pacific ocean, why would it have to get in the road of my career.

(Ten minutes later....) Bummer.......the heart strings of a mother are too hard to break!!!!!

Funny you should say this. My husband and I had such a discussion the other morning over coffee.

And he said, "Arrogance is a misuse of greatness, and an insult to devotion. Humility is the only gracious response to reverence."

It took me a few seconds to digest it, then I really liked it.

Marvin,

Like Denise, I've been away for awhile and I come back to see this gorgeous painting! What a treat! Sylvia was my favorite, but this little darling has stolen my heart. I love the simplicity and the unfinished look--there is nothing to distract from her alabaster skin . Not many people can pull that off well, and obviously you have pulled it off and then some! To say that she is stunning is an understatement; my best complement has to be this--she breathes.

I hope you and your family are doing well.

love,

Renee

Ngaire, I would make room for you. Since you live in OZ can't you click your heels together three times and say, "There's no place like Atlanta!"?


Janel are you referring to breakfast of what your husband said?


Thank you Renee. She was the sweetest little girl and I'm so glad that I was able to capture her essence.

Marvin, I'm clicking and nothing is happening, am I there yet, am I there yet? Click click click, nope nothing.

I have lost site of Toto and the yellow brick road. I am not sure I have the right shoes on. Oh noooooooo, I have been transported back to being a peasant, no money, no job just a bucket full of dreams and wishes covered with a blanket of hope, with paintbrushes on top.

Next day while walking amongst my weedy garden, I found a genie bottle...Wahoooo!!! Rubing harder and harder, now trying really hard, there's smoke (no mirrors) still rubbing.....**** genie, no, not another packet of tim tams. I said "Send me directly to the workshop of Marvin Mattleson or at least Tim Tyler, you @#!*, not tim tams, what will I do with all these packets of tim tams. Paint with them?

That afternoon, walking back in side with tim tams, shoulders rounded with tears in my eyes, dragging my feet, I decide to click some more instead. Click, click, click, Am I there yet? Am I there yet? Am I there yet? Am I there yet? Sob, Sob. Am I there yet? Am I there yet? Sniffle, Sob, Sob, as I fall down to the ground in a comatised sleep dreaming of laughing and painting with Marvin at his workshop in Atlanta.

Maybe you should ask the Bad Witch?

...

Couldn't find the words? Who are you and what have you done with Tim?

All kidding aside, I appreciate your remarks and I'm quite flattered you feel that way. As you know it's important to me to keep getting better. I place a lot of pressure on myself to keep pushing the envelope. It wouldn't be much fun any other way. It's especially gratifying when someone of your ability and intelligence acknowledges some success in that regard.

I just hope I don't screw up the next one.

Wow!! That is a beautiful portrait. It makes me want to give up watercolors and go into oils.

Let me add my small voice to this chorus of accolades, Marvin. I am most impressed by the fleshy skin that has all the freshness and translucence of youth. I want to kiss that face!
Your #1 fan in CT,
Jeanine