"David Leffel Profile Study", 16x16 oil on canvas

"David Leffel Profile Study", 16x16, oil on canvas

I came home from The Portrait Society of America's annual conference totally inspired. The 4 days were chock filled with incredible artists doing demonstrations, face -offs and workshops on lost and found edges, composition, drawing, portfolio reviews, etc, etc.

The first solo demo of the event was Friday morning. David Leffel will go down in history as an art legend, and I for one will always be a huge fan and avid admirer of not just his magnificent work, but of the man himself. He is always gracious, willing to answer questions, incredibly witty and intelligent, and overall just an enigma to those who are fortunate enough to come in contact with his work and his teaching. I was fortunate to have taken a workshop with David last spring, and after getting to know him at the workshop, I was especially looking forward to this particular event at the conference.

As usual, David was in rare form and had the audience cracking up even as he was in the throes of a self portrait on stage and a complex explanation of his craft!

Today I used the photo that I snapped from about 10 rows back in the ballroom to render this quick study of David as he painted. He was wearing a funny gypsy type scarf around his head, but no matter what he wears he is always a striking image with his chiseled features. I would love to try a more finished piece in the future, when I have some decent linen to work on. Here's my reference photo and some more photos from David's demo.

This is the photo that I used for my reference. They had wide screens set up on either side of the stage so that it would be easy to see no matter how far back you were seated.

David discusses edges before he starts his portrait.

The advantages of modern technology!

You've got to love the scarf!

I am so happy that I got to see him do another demo. It was quite a treat!

Photo from last year's workshop.