Pamela duLong Williams attended the Art Students League, NYC, Boston Museum School of Fine Art, and graduated from Vesper George School of Art, Boston, MA.

She has taught painting in oil at Silvermine School of Art, New Canaan, CT; UNH, Durham, NH; Coolidge Art Center, Portsmouth, NH; Heartwood College of Art, Kennebunk, ME; Rowayton Art Center, Rowayton, CT; as well as numerous workshops in this country and abroad since 1976.

Her works have exhibited in competitions and collections such as the National Academy, NYC; Allied Artists, NYC; Creditianstalt, NYC; The Louis Williams Cone Collection; The State House Collection of Boston; Artist’s Magazine; American Artist Magazine; Coastal Living Magazine; as well as numerous galleries in this country and abroad.

In addition to being a juried artist-member of the Ogunquit Art Association, she is also currently an active member of Silvermine Guild of Artists, New Canaan, CT; The Copley Society, Boston, MA; and the Portrait Society of America.

Artist Statement

My creative process for portraiture begins with what the model projects. Body language is a very important part of achieving a likeness. Therefore, I do not pose my models. I talk with them after they seat themselves. The more we talk the more comfortable they tend to become in the chair and in my company. I watch them move about in the chair until I am struck with a composition. Left to position them selves with no more direction than sitting or standing, the subject will take a pose that is characteristic of them.

Once we have a pose which suits both their comfort and my inspiration I begin to choose back ground colors and set the lights. Selecting the right size and proportioned canvas is next. I begin drawing in charcoal on the canvas. Correcting the anatomy and placement continuously. Developing the drawing can take up to an hour or more.

When satisfied I spray with fixative and begin painting. I first analyze the subject’s flesh-tones and decide on the colors I will use. I lay in my large dark shadow shapes first, beginning with the eyes and then working all over the face and down through the body. Constantly painting the colors and values I identify. Then I paint in the local colors, or mid tone shapes. Lastly I paint in the lights. I strive to cover the entire canvas with paint as soon as possible. Since I work on a white canvas it is important to establish and overstate my values in the first stages.

Now I have my “knock in” which I will then devote hours to repainting until I am satisfied with the finish. The face can take me from six hours to infinity. Sometimes new starts are needed.

Portraiture is one of the more difficult expressions of painting. It demands a command of the anatomy, color, and composition. The success of portrait painting is to first and foremost commit myself to the art of making a good painting. A well-composed interesting painting conveying an inspired moment. A downward glance. A woman in a red hat. A woman defiantly smoking a cigarette.

I do not work from photos. The interaction between myself and the model is of paramount importance. The animation of my subject which occurs during our relaxed sessions is what helps me to understand the structure of their face and body movements. It enables me to achieve the personality of the subject. Secondly, the camera does not provide enough of the spacial depth (in terms of subtle but necessary transitions of temperature and intensity of color) needed to recede or project the form in space. Since my approach to all work is that of the impressionist school, working from life is essential with still life and plein air painting, as well as portraiture.

My approach to laying in a portrait is also the progression of steps I use in all my work. I first decide what my most striking impression is of my subject. The light. The palette. The scale. The emotional response to a moment in time that will never occur again.

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Russel Whitten studied art at Maine College of Art, Heartwood College of Art and the Art Students League of New York. He is represented by The Wright Gallery in Cape Porpoise and is a member and showing artist with The Ogunquit Arts Association/Barn Gallery.

Russel has been teaching for 20 years at art institutions in Southern Maine including Rivertree Center for the Arts in Kennebunk, Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, Old Orchard Beach Adult Education, Wells Adult Education and The University of New England in Biddeford. His painting experience includes scenic artistry in theater painting at The Ogunquit Playhouse, Good Theater in Portland Maine, and Prescott Park, Portsmouth NH.

Artist Statement

“I sell my paintings and drawings to support my habit that people call art.”

CLICK HERE TO READ AN INTERVIEW WITH RUSSEL WHITTEN