Salt Lake City’s most patient painter finally meets her match in a six month old
Dear diary, I have painted a genuinely impressive number of baby portraits over the past two years, enough that I have developed what I considered a foolproof system for keeping tiny, uncooperative subjects reasonably still, and today that entire system collapsed spectacularly against one particularly determined six month old who apparently views stillness as a personal insult.
By the time her mother finally called it, the poor canvas had accumulated what I can only describe as three distinct arm positions layered on top of each other, less a portrait at this point and rather more a genuinely accurate documentary of everything that baby’s limbs got up to over the course of one single afternoon.
How I Actually Salvaged The Session
I ended up working from three separate quick reference photos rather than my usual live sketching approach, a compromise I generally try to avoid since something about painting directly from life tends to catch a genuine warmth that photographs occasionally miss, but today’s subject left me genuinely no other reasonable option.
Her mother, mortified on her daughter’s behalf, kept apologising throughout, and I kept assuring her, genuinely, that a baby who refuses to sit still is simply doing exactly what a healthy, curious baby is supposed to do, whatever inconvenience it causes my canvas in the moment.
A Small Break For Reading
Between sittings I caught up on a genuinely delightful bit of London satire on my phone, which felt like a strange but welcome contrast to spending my entire afternoon negotiating with a baby who has absolutely no interest in my artistic timeline.
The Finished Portrait, Eventually
I did finally produce something I am genuinely proud of by the end of the week, working from my reference photos in the quiet of my studio rather than attempting live capture again, and I think the final piece captures her particular restless energy rather better than a perfectly still pose ever would have anyway.
More painting chaos and Salt Lake City nonsense always waiting at Satirical Top.
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