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Then, Ommert melds in a pencil drawing bits and pieces of several photos, incorporating a smile from one, a background from another, part of a pose from one and part of a pose of another.
Then he shows his proposed design to the client.
"Now some people are much more particular about certain elements, and you get into a little bit of back-and-forth," Ommert says. "But since we both want a good-looking portrait, it can be resolved."
Now, it's time to begin the portrait, which Ommert says usually takes four to six weeks to complete. It's exacting work that requires not just artistic talent but a solid working knowledge of anatomy and even a smattering of psychology.
Consider, for instance, that Ommert usually ends up repainting a subject's eyes 10 to 15 times.
"You know that old thing about how if you stand back from a good oil painting and walk around the room, the eyes follow you? When people view a portrait from a distance of four or five feet, you have to take that into account and you have to get the right amount of crossed eyes (in the painting)," he says.
"I'm not exaggerating. An eighth of an inch would be a gross mistake. You get down to 32nds and 64ths when you get with the colored part and the pupil and just the right amount of cross-eyedness." |
Nostrils and lips also are difficult, Ommert says, because "they will determine everything."
Ever notice, for example, that your nostrils flare slightly and your ears move a bit when you smile? Ommert has.
"If you miss all these little eighth- and quarter-inches along the way, you lose the likeness, and that just makes you nuts," says Ommert.
Ommert doesn't show a client a painting until it's finished. And, when it is, how do they react?
Ommert answers with a sheepish smile. Actually, Ommert says, his wife, Brenda, usually handles delivery duties.
The couple has been married for 20 years. They met in a Pennsylvania nightclub. And, no, Brenda says, smiling, "he didn't ask me to pose for him."
One of Ommert's current projects is a portrait Frank Quintana of Henderson commissioned of his wife, Cathy, posing with her horse.
Quintana said he researched prospective artists for about six months, and that he was impressed not only with Ommert's references, but the fact that Ommert gave him references.
"He gave me a good look at what he did," Quintana says, "and most of the other artists wouldn't give me that."
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