painting by Boston-based artist, Heather Laforce (2008)

Heather LaForce is an painter working on large scale canvases to show emotion and detail in her work. According to her Youtube video (2:38) she looks her her reference photos in Adobe Photoshop so she can zoom in very close to see the detail she will be painting.

LaForce also works with certain colors to help express emotions. Many of the facial expressions she captured in her early paintings were very intense and she paired that with intense colors, such as reds and oranges in the skin tones on a bright green or turquoise background (just like in the above photo). Her newer work has more muted tones, creating a more realistic palette of pinks, creams, peaches, and tans.

You can watch the development below of a newer painting. She strung together photographs that were taken every 15 minutes as she completed this painting.

A little background about Heather: she attended art college with me at SUNY Potsdam. She is now in the graduate program at School Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA). SMFA provides an opportunity to work not only with great professors from SMFA, but also Tufts University, Northeastern University, and the Museum of Fine Arts itself, all located in Boston.