So I continued painting abstracts professionally, they were selling well and it was what I was known for.īut the portrait bug was just buried deeper, it was the biggest mistake I made.

Would everyone laugh when they didn’t look like the sitter? I always wanted to paint portraits but I put it off, I was worried about how they would turn out, and compared to the Old Masters I’d admired so much, it seemed like an overwhelming challenge. Lack of time can seem like the perfect excuse, kids, work commitments…life.īut giving yourself permission can be the real truth. It can eat you up and days, months and years can pass by before you give yourself time, and permission to start. One of the biggest regrets you can have in any creative endeavour is not starting. What if you forced yourself to try and achieve more with less, give yourself some constraints and your portrait painting could make giant leaps forward?… 1. The Art of the Start You’ll start next week when you’ve got the exact colour you need.īut what if these actions are holding you back? Your motivation is high, your drawing’s good but the jump from pencil to paint has hit a wall.įlicking through an art magazine or shopping for a new paint colour suddenly seems like an attractive idea. When the weekend comes and you’ve finally managed to find some ‘you’ time, the blank canvas stares back at you and the finished portrait, you so desperately wanted to achieve, seems a world away. You might think you need more time, or the perfect paint brand or a new brush.

The Art of Painting (detail), Johannes Vermeer, 1666

Easy portrait drawing for beginners