Paley’s 11th Portrait by Richard Salcido

Paley 11th by Richard Salcido

Paley and I went over the list of artists back during the holidays, and one artist stuck out to both of us. Richard Salcido pieces spoke with great emotion. This direction was not only new to our journey with this painting, but it’s also the beginning of a new chapter for Paley. As always, we were vocal to the artist to keep with their aesthetic. We’ve continued to this because we want the artist to be proud of their piece and make sure it represents their body of work.

Working with Richard was great, and the early sketches proved to us that he saw Paley. When we started the process, the two elements we requested was to do a graffiti background, and Paley wanted some color in her hair. He asked us to take a photo of Paley with expressions as well as the expression list. I listed the help of our friend Rachel Capil, to shoot her for the portrait. The shots turned out great! We even used one photo of her and her bestie on the back of her yearbook. 

The finished piece speaks so much to Paley and the next chapter coming with middle school. Initially, when we saw the painting with the black shirt with nothing on it, it lost its voice. Sadly I spooked the artist, and he thought we didn’t like the painting. What we realized and eventually pointed out to the artist was the ampersand used in the sketch is what spoke about the expression on Paley’s face. If you know Paley she has her moments, and that look is a look I’ve seen several times when dealing with her twin siblings. Hey, twins gang up! I even give them that look. 

The artist saw it, and when he added the sign, the piece just glowed to all of us. Paley just lit up when she saw the final product as you see. We’ve been commissioning these portraits now for 11 years, and I truly love how this process always surprises me with each project. We are so excited to add this piece to the collection and can’t wait to see where this new chapter will take us onto the twins 7th portrait. 

Thank you Richard for a wonderful piece of art!