While each person is reading I study facial structure and determine how I want to paint the face. I use the structure of the face to determine my composition. The subject does not see how I have painted his or her face until after the portrait is done to avoid any sense of theatricality.
I then ask the subject to read the chosen phrases out loud into the camera. I try not to direct but allow each individualÕs personality to project. I use the camera to compose the painted shapes on the video screen in the manner of modernist paintings. The end product has the elements of classic portraiture reassembled in a different sequence: Color, shape, line, composition and the expression of the soul through the eyes.