Portraits

If you are interested in how I started doing portraits, check out the bottom of this page.

Most of my paintings were given to my customers before I thought of photographing them. The images below are scanned from snapshots I took of some of them.

 

Rich (water color, 11" x 14")

 

       

Sweet? Sixteen  (pastel, 18" x 24")

(Cindy at Sixteen)

 

Marchje (after Frans Koppelaar) (watercolor, 8" x 10")

 

Sandy at 17 (pastel, 14")

 

Sandy (watercolor, 10" x 12")

 

Crossed Reflections (acrylic, 24" with frame)

 

Tommy (watercolor, 5" x 7")

 

 

Sandy and Cindy  (pastel, 14" x 18")

This was originally painted about 1976 for my in-laws with a dark brown background and Sandy's blouse in gold. When I placed in our home I changed those areas.

 

Cindy  (pastel, 8" x 10")

 

Sandy  (pastel, 8" x 10")

 

  

Shawn at 4 1/2   (pastel, 14" x 20")

 

    Shawn  at 5 1/2  (pastel, 14" x 20")

Shawn (burnt sienna watercolor, 5" x 7")

 

'Rain, Rain' (acrylic, 16" x 20")

 

Self-Portrait  (pastel, 19" x 24")

(part of a homework assignment)

 

Contemplation   (acrylic, 16" x 20")

Shawn and Cowboy (pastel, 14" x 20")

 

*****

 

	Larkham	Dennis

(bas reliefs, bisque fired clay, 9 1/2" x 11")

 

Shawn  (bas relief, painted bisque fired clay, 9 1/2" x 11")

These are first attempts at bas relief or portraits in other than 2 dimensions.

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My Career? as a Portrait Artist

I like to draw and paint and was considered rather talented by my teachers by the time I was in the 1st grade and was often given more complex tasks than the rest of the class.

Portraiture was easy for me. My friends frequently asked me to draw them, allowing me the opportunity to practice. I actually received payment for several of my portraits starting when I was just 12 years old.  At that time the portraits were just pencil profiles but within a couple of years I had advanced to complete head and body.  I took art in the 8th and 10th grade and later took a drawing course in college (charcoal figure studies). Although I took so few art classes, I must have been known for my portraits because, on several occasions in junior and senior high school, teachers and others would ask me to do the faces for murals and other art work they were creating even though I was not in their classes and it meant my missing my regular academic classes.

In my 10th grade art class, the teacher insisted we spend our time doing freeform clay sculptures but would not let me try to do a bust or other representational subject. She had never seen my drawings or paintings before I brought some in to enter into a statewide competition. I won first place for portraiture and was awarded a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University but I did not accept it since I lived in Pittsburgh at the time and wanted to get away from it and home.  After winning that competition, I became better known and began receiving a lot of commissions for my work in the 10th grade. I attended and graduated from the American University in Washington, DC but did not major or minor in art. I only took one drawing course plus 2 photography courses there.

I enjoy painting but never actually advertized and have not done as many as I would have liked. Few of my friends or relatives are interested in having portraits made of their family members. I have worked at fairs doing charcoal sketches and cutting silhouettes while displaying some of my pastel work and received some commissions that way.