Impressions from The Art of the Portrait Conference 2025
- Admin
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
by Eddy Greenwood
I was thrilled to get the news from the Portrait Society of America that my painting, Life’s a Show, had been awarded a Certificate of Excellence in last year's International Portrait Competition. With the prize came an invitation to collect the award during the Art of the Portrait Conference in Washington, DC.
I flew from The Netherlands and after landing in the USA, it was a short ride to the Hyatt where the 3-day event was being held. The fatigue from the journey was quickly forgotten, when I entered the location - the hotel was full of artists! As a painter I spend most of my time in isolation, and this was a chance to connect with others. After all, we all love the same thing. In America you don’t have to be shy, it was really easy to introduce yourself, and the delegates were very open and friendly.
I was hit by the creative energy of the conference. The Face-Off Challenge had an incredible atmosphere. People crowded around artists who were painting models from life, at the same time informing the audience about their approach to the portrait. It was a valuable experience to get up close to their colour pallets and see how they handled the paint. You could see so much and understand the artist's motivation.
In other rooms different events were kicking off. There was a Future Generation demonstration showing young talented artists painting models from life. One of them was Phoebe Stewart Carter from the UK. To capture the likeness of the model, Phoebe was using a mirror, an artist's tool from the 17th century. Kind of ironic for the future generation artists!
The work of the 19 finalists was on display in a special room. There were crowds of people trying to get a closer look at these exceptional paintings. The conference is attended by artists of all different levels, from world famous names to people enjoying it as a retirement hobby. There were also many students from the different schools in America. They had come to the conference with their mentors to learn more and soak up the atmosphere.
There was a full program of painting demonstrations with artists working on stage with models while explaining their approach. This kind of demonstration needs a lot of technical support. PSoA did an excellent job using a film crew with multiple cameras that focused on the artist, the artwork and what was happening on the pallet. Everything could be seen on big screens using split images. How the artists managed to paint and talk with the audience at the same time was truly impressive!
One of the most popular events were the portfolio critiques. You could choose an artist to look at your portfolio on an iPad and give you guidance on how to improve. I felt like a child in a toy shop, so many great painters to choose from! I was lucky to get Ruth Fitton who was very encouraging and inspiring.
There were painting demonstrations from artists using Alla Prima techniques. I was fascinated by the approach of many American artists who could switch their styles from highly rendered realistic commission work to loose impressionistic studies that could be completed in less than an hour. Watching Rose Frantzen was really interesting with her expressive, thick layers of paint and dynamic brush strokes. Then she told us that she was working on a commission for a well-known author, who of course wanted to be painted in front of his books, and he wanted the titles to be readable. So she had been working for weeks with a tiny sable brush to paint the lettering. It was so small she had to use neurosurgical magnifiers on her glasses to see what she was doing! Being a true professional, she prepared herself for the demo in Washington by painting a model from life every evening for a week, just so she could 'loosen up.'
The Artist’s Marketplace, aka the Exhibitor Hall, was a fun area where you could stock up on painting supplies and try out new materials. It was also a place where faculty artists could set up an easel and paint models who were sitting for short poses. Walking around with a sketchbook was essential as supervised life drawing classes were also being offered.
The S6x9 Mystery Art Sale was a great moment where you got the chance to own a miniature painting from a great artist for just 250 US dollars! The paintings had been donated by the artists, and all the money raised went into the student scholarship fund. I was delighted to be the new owner of one of Phoebe’s self portraits.
The evening of the gala dinner and award ceremony was wonderful. Frances Bell was the winner of the Draper Grand Prize and People’s Choice Award with her stunning self portrait. Laura Arenson was the other finalist who won an Exceptional Merit Award for an amazing portrait. I received a Certificate of Excellence Award together with Ruth Fitton. When I first started painting, I never imagined I would be sharing a stage with such talented artists. I was thrilled beyond words. Thank you so much Portrait Society of America for this award and organising such an incredible event.
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