Richard Kelly Is Face #47

"Richard Kelly: Face #47", oil, 12"h x 12"w, copyright Jill Banks 2011

Richard Kelly took the hot seat today ... sitting for face #47 of my 100 Faces in 100 Days Project. Richard's one of the foremost collectors in the U.S. ... and I've come to know him through his involvement as board member with the Great Falls Foundation for the Arts. Naturally, we talked a good bit about art. But, also about his family. His two sons who I would say he's rather nuts about. His wise wife.

A couple of funny stories about Face #47. Richard brought donuts and I consumed a few. That's definitely unusual for me. (I avoid gluten most of the time.) I ate one at first. My stomach growled and rumbled. I figured I must need another. Same thing. Finally I realized that the donuts themselves were causing the disruption. It wasn't about being hungry. The rest of the box left with Richard.

Checking out the painting ... almost done.

I showed Richard my painting in its very early, roughed in, messy stage. Perhaps that wasn't a good idea. I usually do this to show my sitters the process. Sometimes they see themselves then. Sometimes not. I think it was at this stage that Richard said something about doubting that it could look like him  in the end. I think the reason that he said that was because I showed it to him prematurely ... and he wasn't used to watching a painting come together. Maybe? But I took this comment, positively, as a challenge. Any time someone has doubted whether I could do something, I work very, very hard to prove I can. Richard figured out that I was an excellent candidate for negative reinforcement. For the rest of the session, the painting remained in "hiding" ... waiting for me to declare it done.

By the time he left, Richard did figure that his son would recognize the painting of his dad up on my wall ... which was a good thing. But I worked some more on it. Remember that negative reinforcement thing. (I hope my next 53 sitters won't try it.) So, I'm anxious to hear what Richard thinks now. It definitely seems right to me.

Oh, and I tried something different on this one. I was disturbed that Richard looked "washed out" by the background color which blended with his hair. I darkened the background a little bit and the painting looked so much better.

Read more about my 100 Faces in 100 Days Project on earlier blog posts (the project started January 1 and I announced it in posts during late December) and on my web site, 100 Faces in 100 Days Project page.

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Phone: 703.403.7435