Meet Pastel and Oil Portrait Artist Elaine Lilling

When portrait artist Elaine Lilling accepts a commission, she paints a lot more than a pretty picture. Elaine's hallmark is her almost uncanny ability to capture the elusive "twinkle in the eye" of her subjects, and she does this with bold brush work, vibrant colors, and excellent draftsmanship. Critics have said her works look real, but painterly at the same time.

Elaine has exhibited in numerous local and regional art shows. Her commissioned portraits of children, adults, and pets hang in numerous prominent homes and professional offices from South Carolina to New York. Elaine will accept both private and corporate commissions of single or multiple subjects in oil or pastel. Although she lives in Richmond Virginia, she is free to travel for out of state commissions.

Daughter of an Air Force "Top Gun", Elaine traveled the world as a child and was fortunate to have seen many of the great masters' paintings first hand. Elaine studied visual art at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and continued her studies with portrait artists Gary Eister, Bob LeRoy, and "Pastel Hall of Fame Artist" Daniel Green.

Quote From The Artist

"Although I have been drawing and painting all my life, I've always had a special fondness for painting faces and bringing out their unique personality in my portraits. My favorite medium is oil, but I often use pastels for children to give them that soft warm look you can almost feel. Although I have done more than my share of abstract paintings, I prefer to paint in the traditional/classical manner of Sorolla and Sargent in which I was trained as a painter and draftsman. How traditional or modern you would like your portrait to look is a matter of personal preference. But it is also dictated to a large extent by subject matter, and probably most importantly by the environment in which the painting will hang."

If your browser is not Java enabled, but you would still like to visit my virtual gallery of pastel and oil portraits, or commission a pastel or oil portrait of yourself or loved one, please use the navigational buttons below to see portraits I have painted of children, adults, and pets.