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1representation of himself, and he kept his
focus on the light. “When I’m painting a
self-portrait, I set myself up in the mirror
with a particular problem in mind,” he
says. “How the light is moving over my
face, how to use a warm complexion
against a cool background, a shadow
problem or a color problem.” Instead of
trying to portray his own personality, he
concentrates on the challenge of making
a flat surface feel dimensional by focusing
on light, color, edges and movement.
As he paints portraits of others, Leffel
concentrates on those same problems of
light and color rather than attempting
to capture the ineffable. “Some people
painting portraits will try to capture the
sitter’s personality, and I think that’s a
Hollywood-ish kind of outlook,” he says.
“I feel that comes through depending on
who is holding the brush and the decisions
they make. Their own personality causesthem to make different choices, like how
much color to use, how little color and
what traits are picked out in a person’s
face.” Those in-the-moment decisions are
what ultimately add character to a portrait.
In Girl in a Black Turtleneck, a pale young
woman with dark hair shines in contrast
with the dark background. The sitter was
a dear friend of Leffel and his first wife
named Lida. She died tragically young, but
he was able to paint her before she fell ill.T’ang Horse with Red Lanterns and Silver Dollars, oil, 30 x 28"