Richard Whitney Captivates Audience With Live Portrait Demo

There is no doubt that portrait painting presents numerous challenges for the artist who works to capture the nuanced expressions unique to the individual who sits before them. Renowned portrait painter Richard Whitney has made a career of doing just that, and it has been quite a journey. Over 60 people filled the Wakelin room at the Wellesley Free Library to see the live portrait demo with Mr. Whitney. The sitter for the afternoon demo was Lian, a poised young woman who proved to be the perfect model. As Mr. Whitney began to lay in the portrait, the audience was treated to a slide presentation of some his notable portraits complete with details about the subjects. One of the most striking of these portraits was one of Whitney’s father, in which he said he sought to capture his gentleness and kindness. The portrait, titled “Dad” captured that and so much more as witnessed by the audience’s reaction.

For 3 hours, Mr. Whitney shared “pearls” from his own long and successful career, as well as those he learned from studying with Ives Gammell, all while painting the portrait sketch of Lian. It was an afternoon to remember for both artists and non artists alike. The WSA is grateful to Mr. Whitney and his wife Sandy for coming down from New Hampshire to make this program possible.

The WSA would like to thank the Wellesley Free Library for providing the venue for this program and providing technology staff to assist with the set up for the event.