How many digital photos do you take a year? 100? 1000? 10,000? With this technology on seemingly every device it is easy to snap a shot and then forget it. Even if you do look at an image again do you do anything with it? Do you process it even if only mentally?
My vocation is making lasting images, so this interests me. What will prompt you to say I want to have this image in my life on a day-to-day basis? To have an image for a lifetime? To pass on to the misty future?
I painted Kana years ago in commemoration of her staying with us one summer as an exchange student. She recently asked me to paint another portrait of her. I chose to portray her on her wedding day in formal dress.
There are many reasons to paint a portrait. It can be a fascinating process for the subject as well as the artist in discerning why.
Every painter paints himself. Cosimo de Medici -b.1389 d.1464…
Roger Vincent Jasaitis 
I really enjoy this. There’s so much more energy to a painting, and you did this well. I can never seem to translate photos into paintings, there’s always something lacking in the form. Nice work.
Thank you, I appreciate your input!
As the owner of the first Kana painting which we get to appreciate on a daily basis I was amazed to see the young lady who has become a beautiful woman. You have caught her in her glory and her happiness at that moment truly shines in your portrait. The texture of your brushstrokes only adds to the message.
I too struggle with the lack of importance we tend to give every day digital photos. We/I have grown lazy and miss the days of slide shows, photo albums etc. As in other things I believe we need to slow down and appreciate what is before us while we have it.
Thank you.
When it comes to images it is quality not quantity that counts. Any artist will tell you that. The thing that most people miss is that it takes time to truly appreciate an image and the work that went into it. I am grateful Ernest that you still appreciate the portrait of Kana as a girl after all of these years. You look deeply at images.
Perhaps by providing lasting images I am asking viewers to focus. This is not something that most people do with their digital swamp of photos. Maybe we artists have a purpose after all? 🙂
You captured her joy, Roger… She will treasure this one. Ginger