Sylvia at Seventeen

[Marvin Mattelson]

Armin,

We belong to a mutual admiration society!

Terri,

Thanks for your generous response. I appreciate it.

Peter,

Thanks Peter, you don't know how much your words mean to me.

With every painting I create, my mind is geared towards finding the best solution for the assignment in hand. I really don't start with a particular approach in mind regarding content, composition or colors.

When this particular client approached me about doing this painting of his mother, at seventeen, all he had was her very faded and heavily retouched high school graduation photo.

He gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted artistically. (Where I come from we call this a smart client). He said he just wanted this to be a painting of a beautiful young woman and if anyone knew it was his mom, so much the better.

Every time I would call him with an idea he would say, "I'm leaving it up to you. I trust your judgement. Just do what you think looks good."

I finally settled on the eastern motif since that was commonly used by the American Boston School painters Paxton & Tarbell, who were doing portraits at that time, 1930.

Once I decided on this theme, my client, who is an antique dealer, told me he had a friend whose house was decorated in Japanese and Chinese antiques. We went there and I chose certain objects from her collection and basically rearranged her living room. Once I had a dress that I felt would complete the composition, I took photos of the setup using a model that resembled his mother in size, build and features.

When I painted the actual portrait I was able to bring most of the props into my studio to paint them from life. I also had the model sit for me as well.

I fell that if I can go into planning a painting with an open mind I will be able to find a unique solution which in turn can broaden my horizons and stimulate my artistic growth. I am not interested in painting the same thing over and over.

I always try to incorporate at least some aspect I have never previously attempted in every portrait I do. The portrait I'm working on now has a completely different feel in every way, although it also happens to be a painting of a beautiful woman.