Ok, so I'm sure you've noticed it. You have probably scrolled through my portfolio and geez, there sure are a lot of pieces featuring the same brunette model?! Meet Mallory, my baby sister. She's my favorite model. She was my first model. Here's the story:

When I graduated from college in 2004, I had one oil painting class under my belt. One. We explored the basics: landscape, still-life, etc. We did one self-portrait (where I awesomely made myself look at least 805-years-old LOL), but nothing more with portraiture. Due to various circumstances, I did not end up taking Oil 2 before graduation, but since I loved oil painting so much, I decided I was gonna be an oil painter. I wasn't sure what I was gonna paint exactly, but I knew I loved oil and I loved painting, well, pretty much everything!

My first studio was in my Mom's garage, and I painstakingly cut my own large Masonite panels, and began working on a series of oil paintings featuring the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA, with a focus on water reflections in the Concord River that churned beneath it.

One of my bridge series paintings, 2005, oil on Masonite panel.

My first garage art studio with bridge paintings

I confidently presented this series of about 10 paintings to a gallery owner who grimaced and looked at me with a sad puppy face. She frowned and asked me if I was seriously depressed. Like was I suicidal or something? Did I need an intervention? Cause no one would ever want to buy such dark, "moody" work. She tossed my work aside, and I gathered it up and walked out of her gallery crestfallen. And then I got angry. Really angry that this old bat had seriously been so rude! And I was gonna SHOW HER. LOL I learned two important lessons that day: a.) the opinion of 1 person meant nothing and b.) I was going to make paintings that mattered to me. And if they mattered to me, then that was all that mattered, and the opinion of a random stranger couldn't affect this one iota.

Drawing is my strength, especially portraiture, so I decided I wanted to paint portraits. The only problem was I had no training in oil portraiture and no idea how to do it. I had had many art classes and was working at an advanced level, mind you, so it's not like I had never created art before, I just had to learn how to paint faces which is its own technique. This was before you could watch tutorial videos on the internet, and I had limited funds, so art classes were out of the question. I was sitting in the living room one afternoon in 2005 when I decided to teach myself. I just needed to practice. And I needed a model. And I looked to my left, and there sitting on the sofa was my adorable 15-year-old sister, Mallory. Ahhh the perfect model! Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a volunteer!

I asked her if she wanted to pose for a photograph that I could paint from, and she happily agreed. (She's a total sweetheart: I won the jackpot in the sister department!). From there I painted my first ever sketch of her. You can see it's loose, kind of deformed and well, a beginner's try. I was learning to mix skin tone; to place my shadow shapes in the right places; to urge the portrait into its own form and identity.

My first paint sketch portrait of Mallory, oil on paper, 2005

From here I went on to paint the final piece (below) from a photograph of Mallory in our backyard. It was the first painting I created that really resonated with its own soul. And can you tell I was angry at the gallery owner when I painted it? LOL Sometimes paintings strike you like lightning, and this was the first time I was awe struck. I could see I was on the right track.

From here I went on to paint pictures of Mallory many, many times. I painted her, I painted her friends (thanks to Matti, Laura, Ashley, Camille and Jenny for posing!), I painted her with her besties on the beach (my first figure painting ever). And I got better and better. I could see my improvement! And the paintings began to fill my Dad's house, my Mom's house, my own house. My first group gallery show at Bering and James in 2006 featured Mallory as the model. It even got to the point where, to Mallory's horror, she had to bring her boyfriend to Dad's house for the first time and 85 paintings of her face were covering every wall! LOL Blame the artist sister, I said;) We have an ongoing joke that when I'm 92, I'll hold a retrospective "Mallory Through the Ages" exhibit showing her ages 15 to however-old-she'll-be-when-i'm-92-I-can't-do-math.

Mallory, mixed media on wood panel with wood stain, 2006

And Mallory has an exquisite face. And an interesting face: her face has a Grecian beauty that is very classical and lovely. She is also the sweetest and most beautiful soul. I look for that quality in the people I paint: an interesting face and soul with a pointed beauty that is inspiring and transcendent.

I just have to apologize in advance: if I ever paint you and you sorta look like Mallory, it just always comes out that way. The best models stay with you, and when she's your own sister- the one you adore beyond measure- there is no going away.

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Beginnings: The Best Model