A couple years ago I was talking to another PleinAire Artist who was also a teacher. He made a comment that if you knew how to do a good landscape and understood lighting and shading it would transfer to painting portraits. I believe this is true at a physical level. I find the added complication to portraits is capturing the soul of the person. How do you capture an 86 year old man who was a well educated engineer, served his country, faithful to my mom and us 9 children. A man of deep commitment and faith. A man that loved nature and was so proud of me finally coming full circle, of raising my own family, a career and going back to my first love of art. I see him in some of my children and when I talked to my grieving mom,, I could see she saw him in me.
Maria Ressler Nature Paintings and Art Studio 