How to commission an artist's portrait on Long Island
Artist Linda Gottleib painted a portrait of model Jeff Ommundsen. Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas
Having your portrait painted by a professional artist can show your best side to future generations, commemorate a major milestone such as your wedding or retirement or simply provide an opportunity to inspire (and hang out with) Long Island’s masters of the paint brush.
Posing for a portrait, whether you’re sitting in front of a class or commissioning artwork for a wall at home, “gives you an opportunity to be observed and celebrated through someone else’s eyes,” said Marianne Della Croce, executive director of the Art League of Long Island art school and gallery in Dix Hills. “To be seen by an artist allows our character to blossom on canvas.”
“It immortalizes you,” said Kenneth Jackson, 61, of Freeport, a painter and a New York City Public Schools visual arts teacher in Brooklyn. Jackson began painting models’ faces while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and earned a master’s in fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. He’s completed hundreds of portraits, most recently of a bride and groom and three other family members as a gift for a wedding in Puerto Rico.
Jackson begins by asking the client to text a photo. “If I need to, I will come talk to them, take some pictures of my own and then I’ll go back and start painting.” He specializes in oils, at prices ranging from $200 to $2,000 depending on the size of the portrait and the number of people in it.
During a 30-year career, Dave Peikon, 68, of Bethpage, an Art League of Long Island painting instructor, has created about 150 portraits including those of notables such as Old Westbury Gardens preservationist Mary Phipps, Nobel Laureate James Watson of Cold Spring Harbor and former Long Island University President David Steinberg, the latter on his retirement. While Peikon no longer “actively” seeks portrait work, he’ll accept a commission “if it’s an interesting sitter,” he said by text from Sicily, where he’s working on a series of landscapes. Fees range from $4,000 for a small painting to $35,000 for large scale portraits, he says.
Although many portrait artists work from photos, some still go old-school and ask you to sit for them, said Jeff Ommundsen, 59, of St. James, who moonlights as an artist’s model in local figure-drawing classes.
To avoid cramping up during your posing session, find a “very comfortable position, especially if it’s going to be a long pose,” Ommundsen said. Every 20 minutes, ask for a few minutes break and “shake out” your body, he adds.
To find an artist call the Art League of Long Island in Dix Dills at 631-462-5400 or visit artleagueli.org.
