Despite the hard work that went into the 2-meter-high, life-size oil portrait of the Walgaards, it was a great joy to create and remains one of those portrait commissions where everything just fell into place. The client who commissioned this work trusted me completely from start to finish, including delivering the framed final product to their house in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Life-Size

When doing portrait commissions, whether charcoal portraits, pastel portraits or oil portraits, I don’t normally work smaller than life-size because it makes the subject look small and puny. For example, when a client wants a single head-and-shoulders portrait, life-size canvas dimensions usually work out to roughly 60 x 75 cm. If they want torso and hands included, it works out roughly about 80 x 110 cm. In the case of this portrait, the client initially wanted a full-figure, life-size oil portrait of her husband alone. Yet, as discussions continued, we concluded that the visual impact would be much more pleasing if they appeared on the painting as a couple. Needless to say, at life size, this resulted in a 2-meter-high painting. Added to that was a wide double frame in white and silver.

Framing of the Walgaard Portrait

I am still amazed, that when this large work had to be safely transported, my friend the photographer just “happened” to have a roof rack on his 4 x 4 that also “happened” to have a flat wooden box that could be attached to it which just “happened” to be big enough to transport the framed painting in! Amazingly there everything just worked out perfectly!!