The Initiation, Lynette Swanepoel, Thabo Mofutsanyane, South Africa, 100 cm x 70 cm, 2014, acrylic paints on paper

In February, we announced the launch of African Portrait Project and you can read that article here. We also published an article on unconventional portraits and included work by African artists. Read the article, The Unconventional Portrait: Moving Away From the Literal Likeness here.

The African Portrait Project has grown to include even more accomplished artists from several African countries. Many have fewer resources than most of us are accustomed to, such as cell phones only to photograph their art and to connect with the rest of the world via social media. Therefore these African artists have elected to join together in a group on Facebook to share images of their work and offer portrait commissions with the assistance of Dr. Keith McFarlane. View the Facebook page and more art here.

Dr. McFarlane’s African Portrait Project seeks to provide these African artists with an income from patrons in more affluent nations, by offering art lovers outside of Africa opportunities to commission portraits at extremely affordable prices. A win-win for all and when you participate by commissioning an artist, gives you an original fine art portrait of yourself or your family members.

Portrait III, Elias Mung’ora, Naibobi, Kenya

These commissioned portraits are real fine art, one-of-kind, and may be hyper-realistic pencil drawings on paper, an oil painting, or expressive painting in other fine art materials.

Portrait artists in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and other African countries will be happy to consult with you one-on-one to determine the best options for your portrait.

You can also read more details on commissioning a portrait here.

The wrinkled woman, Theopencil ( Theophilus Boateng Kwaku Sarpong ) of Accra, Ghana, Pencil on paper, 41cm x 51cm

If you have questions, or wish to find out how you can commission your first portrait, contact Dr. Keith McFarlane via email: editor@negativeentropy.com  Please remember that Dr. McFarlane is based in Amsterdam, and asks you to keep in mind that Amsterdam time is about hours ahead of your time zone in the USA. Here is Dr. McFarlane’s phone number: +31 20 89 32 791

Commissioning a foreign artist for a portrait, and the artist accepting foreign commissions involves a high level of trust on both sides. Recognizing this, Dr. Keith McFarlane, scientist and owner of the Amsterdam based company Negative Entropy and the owner and creator of the ArtWorld app available on iTunes, created this commission service. He will safeguard the payment while assuring quality and delivery of the commissioned artwork, and will only take a 5% commission to cover international transaction fees, currency exchange rates, bank transfer fees and like expenses.

Africana III,  Elias Mung’ora of Nairobi, Kenya, Charcoal and watercolours on ivory paper, 60cm x 84cm