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I think Mike hit the nail on the head as to why I enjoy portrait painting so much. He said "the portrait painter wants everything to matter". Not only do I want each element in my paintings to matter (what kind of chair the sitter is in, what their facial expression conveys about their personality, etc) I also like knowing that the whole painting matters deeply to the people commissioning it.
If I paint a great still life there's a chance it will strike an emotional chord in someone seeing it, but maybe not. How excited can you get about pears anyway? But when I paint a portrait of a newly adopted child or a portrait of a client's mother who passed away last year (two of my recent commissions) I KNOW it's of great meaning to the family. That drives me to do the very best work I'm capable of and gives me immense pride and pleasure in what I do.
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