I created this portrait back in autumn 2020 as a present for the daughter of the man in the painting. It was commissioned by her husband. The portrait was a very special and personal gift. It is painted with acrylics on stretched canvas at 40 x 30 cm.
I had one reference photograph to work from. I cropped it a little to remove some of the background. The painting was small enough and I didn’t want the man’s face to appear too small. He has such and expressive face and I wanted to capture all the detail and shapes in his face.
I started work with a line sketch in a watered down yellow ochre acrylic. Once I was happy that I captured his likeness I moved on to placing down some basic colour onto the entire canvas. After this, I almost fully completed the background with a few layers of paint. I then moved on to the face and clothing and worked in layers until I was fully happy with everything.
The painting was then scanned on my scanner in house and emailed to the client who was very pleased with the finished portrait. He wrote me a lovely email:
Hi Ivana, That’s beautiful. Thank you so much. It’s for my wife and I know she’s going to love it. I know I don’t have to tell you but you’re incredibly talented.
Richard
Client reference for the portrait 
Work progress on a portrait painting of an elderly man
I use Winsor and Newton Professional and Galeria acrylic paints on Belle Arti fine grain stretched canvas. I stretch some canvases in house but mostly use pre-made canvases.
