Paley 17th Portrait: Ryan Martin

Better Late Than Never! Pivot seems to the moto we are living by right now. This is not the most last minute piece I’ve ever commissioned. But, I was on schedule with this one to be completed before Paley’s actual birthday. I was so looking forward to saying, I am back to being “on top of it” again. Surprise, I am not! Sadly the artist slated for this piece had schedule conflicts, like most artists do. I completely understood and shifted the planning out to either 2026 or 2027. Just like another project I have been working on for the past 15 years, I paused the project and took time to regroup.

Enter in Ryan Martin who saved my derrière. This portrait broke the rules. I was so good about getting the portrait done based on photos I provide the artist over the past 17 years. Then COVID threw me through a loop, I’ve been playing catch up ever since. I found Ryan’s amazing work through a piece at a Modern Eden show in SF recently. Working with Ryan was so easy and I even fell in love with a new series of paintings he is working on. Who doesn’t love UFO’s. We did a shoot with the kids and Rachel in June of 2025 and the photos turned out great. The style of this painting came from his pool series he was going in a mix media of watercolor and ink.

Ryan wanted to take a few more additional shots that had a lot of sunlight on the kids faces. Ryan was impressed how easy it was to work with the kids and how they took direction so quickly. When your dad has been putting you in front of a professional photographer twice a year to since birth, it’s bound to make you numb. You might call it child abuse, but it’s really a lesson in being comfortable in awkward situations. That’s what I like to think. My kids I am sure have another take on all of this, which I will hear about when they are adults and stuck in the home waiting for them to visit. I look at these photos and artists portraits a way to document our family history. Something I didn’t have from my own childhood. Don’t get me wrong, I have many large bins of photos take with personal cameras throughout my life. But portraits, only random fireplace shots show me and my siblings. An official family photo, nothing professional ever.

Paley’s portrait turned out great and the purple tones in the piece, makes it stand out from the twins portraits. Overall, Paley and I were really impressed. Yes you can say they look dead, but look past the morbid and find the love in the piece. Ryan’s work is amazing, I look forward to see him explore more and more with his ability imagine unique settings. Family portrait with a UFO, yes sign me up.