• Home
  • About the artist
  • Artwork
    • Vehicle Artwork
    • Portrait Artwork
    • Icon Paintings
    • Courthouse Carving
    • Beauty of Nature
    • Architecture Detail
  • Public Art Projects
  • Leah's Book
  • In the Press
  • Architecture Detail
  • More
    • Home
    • About the artist
    • Artwork
      • Vehicle Artwork
      • Portrait Artwork
      • Icon Paintings
      • Courthouse Carving
      • Beauty of Nature
      • Architecture Detail
    • Public Art Projects
    • Leah's Book
    • In the Press
    • Architecture Detail
  • Home
  • About the artist
  • Artwork
    • Vehicle Artwork
    • Portrait Artwork
    • Icon Paintings
    • Courthouse Carving
    • Beauty of Nature
    • Architecture Detail
  • Public Art Projects
  • Leah's Book
  • In the Press
  • Architecture Detail

Leah Lawless-Smith

Leah Lawless-SmithLeah Lawless-SmithLeah Lawless-Smith

Artist Leah Lawless-Smith

Artist Leah Lawless-SmithArtist Leah Lawless-Smith

Portrait painting series

Importance of Portraits

 

Portraits

A Portrait of you is a  way of representing and immortalizing yourself.  It shows status and records a moment in time and culture.  It is a snapshot in history to be treasured by loved ones, fans, and future generations.

Throughout history, early portraits were donor portraits, which are portraits within a larger (generally religious) painting of the person who paid for it and their family. Initially, mostly wealthy and powerful patrons would commission these portraits, but over time, it became more and more common for middle-class people to commission portraits as well.

Portraits tell about that person, in the painting we are given clues about their personality, temperament, status, things they may cherish and love. There is no such thing as a neutral portrait; every portrait artist has made certain choices about what to show and how to position their subject. This is why many people find portraits intriguing.  Portraits not only tell us something about the subject, but can also tell us how that subject wanted to be depicted, or how the artist wanted to depict them. 

I enjoy painting portraits because I decide who I am going to paint, what story I am going to tell, and what message I want to convey.  I find it interesting to paint self portraits due to the fact of changes in time, social and political changes, and age.  I, like so many others, want to be remembered, hopefully for my art.

Commission Portraits

I would love to paint a portrait for you!

Portrait painting Series


    Copyright © 2025 Leah Lawless-Smith - All Rights Reserved.

    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

    Powered by GoDaddy