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Thanks!
I'll have to take some hand closeup photos -- I don't have any just yet, though I still have the painting so it's not too late.
He's actually wearing a black suit but I think it looks blue onscreen. Usually I will warm up a black suit with ochres or umbers so it doesn't read as "blue" too much, but with a very warm background like this I really needed the cools.
This gentleman, Donald E. Petersen, is a bit of a renaissance man, a very well regarded CEO who did great things for Ford during his tenure. His accomplishments are used as a positive case study at the Harvard Business School.
He reads a lot of history and also has a top quality gem and mineral collection -- it will end up at the Smithsonian eventually. The bowl is carved from stone, perhaps alabaster, and the green gem is a high quality specimen that I unfortunately don't know the name of. There are one or two brass instruments on the shelves that have something to do with minerals, though I don't know their function.
The sitting was done in his den at his home in Detroit. As soon as I saw this setting I knew that was where I wanted him to pose.
I'll also be doing a double portrait of him and his wife for their livingroom, and perhaps another portrait later on of their son.
He's a wonderful guy to work with -- I'll bet the folks at Ford wish he never left!
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