Classical portraiture · Loveland, Colorado
Portraits painted to stay in your family for generations.
Oil and charcoal portraits made the way the Old Masters worked: a careful drawing, a verdaccio underpainting, then color built up layer by layer.
Back at the easel
Decades of classical training, and the studio open again.
I've painted children, families, couples and still lifes, and copied Holbein, Bouguereau and Botticelli to learn from them directly. Now I'm returning to the easel, and taking on a small number of commissions each year.
“A deep dedication to the craft, a skilled eye, and respect for the subject, whether it's Botticelli's Venus or a portrait of a client's grandchild.”
Selected work
Portfolio
How a portrait is made
From charcoal to color
Charcoal value study
A full drawing that settles the likeness, the pose and the lights and darks. You approve it before any paint goes down.
Verdaccio underpainting
The Renaissance method: the whole painting is modeled in a cool green-grey. It gives skin its depth and glow once color goes on top.
Color, in layers
Color is built up in thin layers and glazes, with a sitting near the end to match skin tones. Chase & Peyton, 20×22, oil on panel.
Commissions
How a commission works
- A conversationWe talk about who the portrait is of, where it will hang, the size and the pose. Clothing matters, so we choose it together.
- Photo session and sittingsI photograph your subject, or work from photos you choose. Where travel allows, a sitting or two lets me sketch from life.
- Charcoal study for your approvalYou see the composition as a finished drawing and sign off before painting begins.
- The paintingUnderpainting, then color in layers. A final sitting matches skin tones closely.
- Delivery and framingI can help you choose a frame that suits the room it will hang in.
Portrait fees
| Head and shoulders, oil16×20 to 18×24 in | from $2,500 |
| Waist up, with hands, oil18×24 to 24×30 in | from $3,500 |
| Full figure, oil24×36 to 36×48 in | from $5,500 |
| Charcoal portraithead and shoulders, on panel or rag paper | from $750 |
Fees are for one person with a simple background. Each additional person adds 50%. An elaborate setting or a larger canvas is quoted separately.
Payment: 30% to begin, 30% when you approve the charcoal study, and the balance when you accept the finished portrait.
Materials and guarantee
Built to last, like the Old Masters' work.
I paint on linen, or on hardboard primed with marble gesso, using archival paints throughout. Smaller portraits go on panel, which is sturdier than canvas. The materials and workmanship are guaranteed: if the structure ever fails, I'll repair or replace the painting.
“Like the old master works, your painting should literally last for centuries.”
About
Sabene Georges
I'm a classically trained painter working in oil and charcoal, focused on the human figure and the quiet of a still life.
Over the years I've worked in oils, acrylic, pencil, airbrush, charcoal and digital art, and painted everything from the fantastical to the realistic. Studying with portrait and figure painters David Martin, Frank Covino and William Whitaker, I learned the methods of the Old Masters, and knew it was the approach I had been looking for.
I've reproduced works by Holbein, Bouguereau and Botticelli as studies, painted portraits of children, families and couples, and taught the verdaccio method to students. I live in Loveland, Colorado, with my wife, Nikki.
Paintings from before 2017 carry my former name, Michael Georges.
Inquire
Tell me about the portrait you have in mind.
Share a few details and I'll reply within a few days to set up a conversation. There's no obligation, and rough ideas are fine.
Prefer to talk first? Say so in your note and I will call you.