Two more portraits done recently.

This is a portrait of Dhara Sampat which a good friend of hers, Sabarish, commissioned me to do. It was a complete surprise for Dhara. The photographs had been emailed to me by him and I began working on it. Dhara had absolutely no clue. He then gifted it to her  and she was totally speechless. She later spoke to me and told me that she is a HUGE HUGE fan of my work. (Thank you Dhara--you absolutely made my day!) She totally loved the portrait.

This was her reaction in her own words:

Thank you, Thank you Thank you Preeti Shenoy for THE BESTESTTTTT GIFT ever!!! I cantttt stop smiling (Guess m gonna continue smiling in my sleep too) :) Loved the potrait, Loved the message and cant wait to read the book - all over again :) - Lots of love and Alll the very best!

The second portrait which appears here was done for a friend. It is a portrait of her dad whom she lost, a few months ago. She had spoken to me a couple of months back, about wanting to commission me, but I had decided already to surprise her and thanks to Facebook, I managed to get a reference photo without her knowing at all.

Satish and I gift wrapped it and gave it to her.She had no clue what it could be--she had presumed it was probably a painting of a landscape or some such thing.
It was a completely emotional moment for both of us, as she unwrapped the portrait. 

To me, this is Art--the ability to touch people's lives with my pictures, the ability to capture a likeness so well and to simply delight the recipient and leave them over-joyed.

Incidentally, I hold an Internationally recognised qualification in portraiture (from the UK) and had worked really hard to obtain it.(It was something I had always wanted to learn and when I got a chance to do this course, I grabbed it. ) Even in sub zero temperatures, I used to never miss a single class. I had to walk about 25 minutes to class, trudging over snow, wrapped up from head to toe in layers and layers of clothing, lugging my  heavy portfolio and art materials. My hands used to be numb (despite the gloves). My face and lips used to be frozen. Once I entered the classroom, I used to never know how the hours sped. Most of the time we had live models and  we had to work really quickly to get a good likeness. We were trained what to look for and were guided so well. I am grateful to my tutor Karen Conroy who is an outstanding artist herself. Her work really inspired me and motivated me to work harder and harder. I kept pushing myself.

Many a time I used to be frustrated (oh, it was a very tough course. We had sooooo much to do!) and Satish would keep telling me that I would eventually get it. He would keep encouraging me to try harder.He was (and remains) my 'guide'.(I would be so lost without him). After most classes, I just couldn't wait to get home to show him my picture.I would reach home only by 9.30.pm and he would have put the kids to bed, after giving them dinner and he would usually have a hot soup ready for me to thaw my frozen bones. (yeah, I know, he is a real sweetheart this guy.)

Another of my closest friends too would listen to me patiently on the phone (we usually spoke when I was walking back from class) when I would moan and sob and whine about how my picture wasn't good enough (sometimes)  and what the problem was and which media I found difficult. Sometimes I would talk about how delighted I was with a picture.If it was all Greek and Latin to him and if he was bored to death about my going on and on, he was gracious enough to never show it :-)

Now,  when people compliment me about my portraits and tell me I am talented I just smile and say thanks, because it is so hard to explain how much of work has really gone into it.
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For my other portraits click here .

[ If you want a pencil portrait  as a unique  gift to that special someone, I do accept commissions.  I work from high resolution photos  which can be e-mailed to me. I use Extra smooth Bristol Board 100% acid free, A3 size paper which is of the highest professional quality (and it will last for centuries). You can mail me (on ps at preetishenoy dot com ) for rates and other details, if you are interested.]