The stinky "Cheese"

Beware of "cheesy" photographic smiles. They have rarely been and are not a recommended feature for most painted portraits, (unless the natural "state of being" of the sitter is to smile.)

More often than not, a toothy grin bearing down on a viewer from the surface of a painted portrait becomes annoying after a time. It comes to resemble more an enlarged poster-sized snapshot than a portrait.

Good portraits do not resemble family snapshots which say little if anything about a person. A good portrait tells a story both physically and spiritually about the person represented.

© Bernard Poulin- 2009