Deborah Frankel Reese | Portraits

Artist's Statement: The Importance of the Painted Portrait

In the world replete with the imagery of high-tech digital cameras and video, it may seem that a painted portrait is somewhat of an anachronism. But photographs, no matter how artistically crafted, cannot duplicate the warm, three-dimensional, immediacy of a painted portrait. And through the use of texture, color and brushwork, I also aim to produce an enduring, painterly work of art.

My portraits can be executed in any one of several styles, as reflected in the on-line gallery. I am equally comfortable creating classical, early primitive, impressionistic and even less traditional portraits. Since I work primarily from photographs, new or old, I am not only able to capture present-day subjects, but to paint ancestral or memorial portraits as well.