"Beautiful and arresting contemporary portraits"
Julie and Kevin Callaghan
"Beautiful and arresting contemporary portraits"
Julie and Kevin Callaghan
"Beautiful and arresting contemporary portraits"
Julie and Kevin Callaghan
A Commissioned Portrait is About Teamwork
"We have found the process to be thoughtful, personal, collaborative and really interesting. We love the outcomes, hoping to have these personality-capturing paintings forever in the family.”
Julie and Kevin Callaghan (2021)
Step 1: Capture the photo that tells the story
As no one has time to sit for hundreds of hours, Julian paints with the aid of reference photos
Interviews with clients and subjects culminate in a photoshoot to find the photo that tells the story we want, in the optimum lighting conditions.
Step 2: Client confirms likeness, tessellation and palette
Controls in the process ensure the team moves forward together to create the desired outcome. The client reviews the work at the the first painting stage to confirm likeness. Typically the client will choose palette and background from samples.
NEW Step 3: Personal Messages for Future Generations
As part of the commission process, I invite each sitter to reflect on 5 -10–15 personal “messages” for future generations—small but meaningful fragments of a life that can be woven into the portrait’s hidden architecture. These might include shared moments, formative accomplishments, deeply held values, cherished artifacts, secret places, beloved pets, amusing stories, guilty pleasures, family triumphs, proud memories of friends, or even ambitions yet to be fulfilled. These elements become encoded marks —subtle, symbolic, or abstract— a private communication or more generally broadcast that future descendants may one day uncover, question, or interpret. They ensure the portrait lives far beyond its moment, carrying your narrative forward across time.
Step 4: Post abstract layer review, final review and approval
The Story
In this portrait, the subject is a breathtakingly beautiful young woman, physically youthful but emotionally mature for her years. Her eyes are engaged with the viewer, she is confident and composed. Her neutral expression is on the edge of a smile. As such she is captivating, the viewer wants to please her, to draw out a smile. She may or she may not, we watch on her terms.
Client approves and signs off final portrait