Portrait of Maureen & Steven Van Zandt

It's sure been a while since I posted. Apart from commissions which have been keeping me very busy. I have been engulfed in horse related activities lately. First there was Equine Affair, a grandiose national equine exposition and equestrian gathering at the Big E in Springfield Massachusetts. Three days filled with varied horse demonstrations, clinics and of course shopping. People from across the nation and the world have traveled thousands of miles to attend this event. After that I spent three great (but unseasonably frigid) days riding in and auditing a natural dressage horse clinic. Well, it's back to my easel, and back to today's post!

It was an honor to paint this pastel portrait of the Van Zandts as a surprise birthday gift for Maureen. I was commissioned by close friends of the celebrity couple. You may know Steve from his role as Silvio Dante on the Sopranos, or as a well-known musician performing as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, as well as with his own band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. Lovely real-life wife Maureen Van Zandt played Gabrielle Dante, the wife of his character, Sylvio Dante, on "The Sopranos". Maureen is also a ballet dancer, director/choreographer of a dance group and founder of a Broadway theatre company. What an interesting and talented couple!

I jumped at the chance to portray this colorful couple in spite of some significant obstacles! For starters the main source of reference was a supplied low resolution (72 dpi digital file) sepia toned digital photograph. Normally however I work from my own reference photos taken in natural light, which gives me an opportunity to observe the subject first hand and take many photographs. While this was a striking professional photograph, the detail was poor due to the low resolution and extreme contrast (fashionable) with midtones blown away, leaving rather white faces and dark shadows. With the help of several very small low resolution supplemental snapshots I managed to acquire, I did my best to render detail in the mid-tones that were absent from the photo.

This portrait was relatively small compared with the (almost life-size) works I usually do. I found it necessary to use pastel pencils for the facial details, instead of soft pastel sticks which I am accustomed to. Lastly because the composition was already provided, there was little room for creativity, apart from the background that I created (from my imagination). To an artist creativity is practically everything.

Doing this portrait was a learning experience. I struggled with the piece at times. In fact it took me almost twice as long to complete as expected. Despite some frustrating moments I am reasonably happy with the finished piece. And I received word that Maureen and Steven were thrilled with the painting. I will consider the suitability of supplied reference photos more fully before embarking on a similar future projects.

Note: I wish to credit the photographer however I presently do not have this information. Through my client, Steve Van Zandt granted me permission to paint his and his wife's likenesses using the supplied photograph as reference, and permission to post the resulting painting on my website or blog. Thanks.