a likeness

I was thinking the other day about my friend Nicole Hamilton's portraits and how very difficult it is to catch not just a likeness- not just how they look but the feeling of the person.   I love this sketch she did for a commission painting of a young man and his daughter.  

Shaun Allen Mahanes

June 27, 1980- March 5, 2012

by Nicole Hamilton

 http://artbynicolehamilton.com/works

To Catch a Likeness

It's such a necessary thing

and yet so elusive

like a bird in flight.

When drawing the nose,

the eyebrow

a millimeter of exactness is required

yet you must be quick 

to catch it.

Rembrandt painted the soul

and left the clothes 

for his apprentices

who fussed over the merchant's collars

and lace

while the master sang the quiet song

that lured in the shy bird