Elizabeth Peyton

I share Peyton's interest in portraiture. Although she generally works on a small scale, Peyton is able to capture closely rendered depictions of her subjects. She makes a clear effort to make her subjects recognizable to the viewer, but does not resort to photo realism. She leaves her brush strokes visible and allows the paint to take some control with drip marks and layering as seen in her image of Kurt Cobain, 1995. In a number of Peyton's images there appears to be some emphasis on the eyes, something which I have been enthralled with for most of my painting career. Even with loose and expressive brush strokes, the eyes still pop as a reminder that the subject is or was alive at some time. 

Peyton includes, in some of her piece, rather distinct background scenery, such as in her image of John Lennon above. I, however, have not incorporated this aspect into my work. I am still undecided as to whether this is something that would strengthen or detract from my work.