Please allow me to introduce my latest portrait: Samantha Niemi. This painting is part of an exciting series commissioned by Sam’s Dad, Peter — here’s an excerpt from his blog:

“Over the next few weeks 4 talented artists will be creating portraits of Samantha. They are working independently of each other – only the size of the works is uniform. These pieces will be displayed together in the hopes of capturing the wondrous variety and complexity of my special not-so-little girl.”

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1otams_portrait-of-samantha-niemi-by-borbay_creation

Here is the entire process in 90 seconds, soundtrack courtesy of my boy MH the Verb… you may remember him from this.

I’ve been friends and hockey teammates with Peter for nearly a decade. Throughout the years, I’ve had the privilege of spending time with Sam… so I had a good deal of knowledge about my subject. Sam came by the studio for a photoshoot — a few hundred photos later, I had my composition.

When preparing a portrait commission, I send a list of questions about the subject to my collector. From there, I source headlines and lay them out within the composition for approval — here is the pre-approved image.

Peter invited myself and fellow artist Paul Zepeda (also part of the project) to Montauk two summers ago. We spent some time on Ditch Plains Beach (aka, the Surfer’s Beach) and catching the sunset at Navy Beach (which I also painted). These elements were all included, plus some shouts to Sam’s love for hockey and swimming with the sharks (seriously).

Trimmed, pasted and ready-to-paint… the first stage of the physical creation has begun.

Warm under-painting, followed by the addition of highlights and shadows. This is where I begin to make sense of the painting.

Working in complementary tones based on the gorgeous Montauk sunset at Navy Beach… a sea of oranges, yellows, purples and pinks.

Getting into the hair… I applied a translucent blue wash to the background, bringing some depth to the picture plane.

Combing the hair with a fine toothed brush…

Painting Sam’s green eyes, as well as her shirt, which was actually a brown/grey, but I wanted to create a balance so I busted out the ol’ artistic license.

Revisiting the tones in the face, beginning with the highlights and working backwards.

A heavily whitened tone next to a saturated tone creates a glowing effect.

Lips painted, tonal equilibrium strengthening.

The face is feeling balanced, added some highlights to the hair, and here comes the necklace.

After some final touch-ups, highlights, a light blue halo and some background detailing — my portrait of “Sam” is complete! Thank you for the commission Peter, I hope your Family loves the painting.