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Creating a dramatic likeness of a subject is a real challenge: the first step in the process is to diagram the critical dimensions of the facial features for reference. Then I photograph my subject from 360 degrees. This information will be sufficient to develop a reasonably realistic representation in my studio in clay, without the sitter needing to be present during the many hours of preliminary work, as is necessary in a painted portrait. Now, with the sitter present, the next step is to make corrections and adjustments which may take a little or a lot of time, and to finalize the total image. Then I will make a rubber mould to deliver to the foundry for casting in bronze.

Costs are based on the time I must invest to create a satisfactory clay image, and usually $2500 to $3000 is average. Time for travel and sittings is included but expenses and foundry supervision are not, nor is the cost of makingthe mould and the bronze casting itself.

The Hemingway was done of course completely from photos, and not my own, either! I’d researched every book and picture of him in the Ketchum Community Library, Xeroxed and enlarged them and covered the walls of my studio. I found a different personlity in every photo, and studying them was not unlike reading a biography, or an analysis of his persona. I could understand why so many women fell in love with him! My interpretation that emerged is a composite of all.

A face with distinctive features is perhaps the easiest to do, a ‘pretty’ one the most difficult, and familiarity does not make it easier. I often make portraits of people who simply have interesting faces, or a feature that may be a challenge: --just for the fun of it. The bust of a smiling “Goody” was a challenge—a sitter cannot hold a smile for an extended time, and his extremely mobile face was difficult to ‘catch’.

I traveled to Keystone Colorado to begin my portrait of Mr.Craig. His office had excellent light by which to work, and his staff was curious as well as Indulgent —one of them took this snapshot. I frequently had to interrupt his desk work to ask for an angle view rather than the top of his head.I once had one sitter who continually fell asleep!

Mr Brooks was an insightful sitter—his observations and criticisms
were right on,and important contributions to the results.