Artist Spotlight || Ryan Pickart

Some years ago when I started blogging I came across artist Ryan Pickart's portfolio on Pinterest and fell in love with this work.  His portraits are powerfully real yet very whimsical.  They remind me of Gustav Klimt's work. I kept his work on file and about 6 months ago I contacted him about a commision.  My daughter, Little Miss A, is growing up fast and I wanted a portrait of her at this age and not a minute later.  

The price was reasonable and Ryan was wonderful to work with. He asked many questions including color choices, portrait position, type..... and then sent me different ideas for clothing and background. I could tell Ryan is very inspired by fashion and fabrics with the moodboard he sent.  I then snapped a few shots of my baby for him and that was it! It is kind of unbelieavble that all this was done through the internet.  I never saw any of his paintings in person but those colors he had used in previous portraits, patterns and his striking faces had me totally obsessed. Let me show you a few others of his portraits-

Pretty spectacular right?  And you want to see our painting of Little Miss A?  I bet you do.....Let me first show you the different sketch options he sent. Here is Number 1.

I thought this was beautiful, but a little soft for Miss A.  Here is Option 2.

I love the moody florals but thought it might be too dark for her. And Option 3.

I absolutely adored the fashion image (I wish I owed an evening gown like that!) and even though I adore Otomi (as you know from my Instagram and my past posts) I wanted something less colorful and less specific.  So he came up with what came to be the final painting.  Here it is-

I love, love, love it!!  I'm so happy with how it turned out.  I hope to share with you next week where we hang it. Stay tuned.  See Ryan's portfolio here and he also sells prints here.

Have you ever done a commission of art online?  Were you happy with the experience?
 

[photos via Ryan Pickart]