The Details: Portrait Artist Jann Daughdrill

By Molly Donovan, Photography By Sonja Revells

Aristotle once said, “The aim of art is to present not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance; for this, not the external manner and detail, constitutes true reality.” Since the middle ages, portraiture has been an evolving form of art. In today’s world of instant photography, the classic, elegant beauty of portraits is valued more than ever. A well-made portrait is a masterpiece and the focal point of a room.
Jann Daughdrill has been creating portraits for more than 30 years. She has painted hundreds of faces all over the United States and as far away as Japan and England. She has painted portraits of college deans, a speaker of the house, a president of the Florida Senate, military officers, professional athletes, and countless children and families.
“A portrait is a forever statement,” Jann explains. “There is a reverence for family roots and a sentimentality for traditions. The essence of a person is expressed in the selection of details which the client and the artist strive for.”
She perfected her art with study and practice. In college at the University of Southern Mississippi, she studied graphic communications. Since graduation, she has gone to drawing and painting seminars to perfect her skills and studied under Daniel Greene, one of the foremost portrait artists in the U.S. For her, the learning never ends.
“I grew up in Mississippi and I lived in the country. I was always drawn to drawing and painting and had a special fascination for faces.”
Now, she works from a studio in the back of her beautiful home in The Cove. Fourteen-foot cypress ceilings and 18 traditional, wood-trimmed windows allow light in from the flagstoned, white picket fenced garden to flood in while she paints. Tall lights illuminate canvases holding current projects. Paintbrushes of all shapes and sizes – bristles, sables, flats, brights, and filberts – sit waiting for Jann to use them to make portraits come alive. Corkboards next to the canvases hold photographs and sketches that will inspire the masterpieces to come.
Jann recalls the story of creating an elegant portrait of a striking young woman, Angie. “Angie’s painting hangs in the dining room of her grandparents’ home alongside portraits of her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Angie was 22, approximately the same age that her mother and grandmother were when their portraits were painted.”
In the painting, Angie wears an elegant teal blue scarf that appears in three generations of family portraits. Angie’s grandmother, Angeline Manning, shared the story behind the scarf with Jann. “It was sewn from a piece of satin selected by Angie’s grandfather, Joe Manning, for its brilliant teal color. He bought it overseas while serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and sent it home to his wife,” explains Jann. “At the time, Mrs. Manning’s portrait was painted by portrait artist Martha Elliott, who suggested incorporating a meaningful object into the painting. The satin scarf was chosen. Years later, when Mr. and Mrs. Manning’s daughter, Angie’s mother’s, portrait was painted, the scarf was worn again. Angie continued the tradition in her portrait and even sewed a piece of the treasured fabric into the hem of her wedding dress.”
Jann says details like the blue scarf are the very essence of a portrait. “Details encompass many aspects. It isn’t about how intricate the details are or how many, but the choice of details to express the personality of the person in the painting.”
An average portrait takes between nine months and a year for Jann to complete due to her intricate process. She says she usually works on multiple paintings at a time to remain objective with each one.
“When a painting doesn’t work in a pleasing way, I take my time,” Jann explains. “I re-look, re-draw and start over if necessary. I’ve found it to be valuable during the painting process to step away often and observe the painting from a distance.”
Whether she is inches away from her work perfecting the shadows on a face or across the room making sure the arms look just right, Jann will not rest until her paintings are perfect.
“I have a strong work ethic. It is what a professional artist needs to have to make the most of their studio time,” she says. “I don’t wait for inspiration to strike me. I accept that the laundry, cleaning, cooking, photography, and client correspondence are all part of the work package and is all important.”
Her process begins with photos. Whether she shoots in the beautiful garden in her backyard or travels across the U.S. to take pictures of a family, Jann explains that a variety of photos is important to getting a portrait right. She takes between 70 and 100 photos for every portrait to make sure everything from the pose to the clothes represent exactly what the client wants. “I don’t paint from just one photograph. All of the information is not in one. Choosing which photos to use and consolidating them into small sketches or layouts can be a challenge. I ask my clients to look through the photos, set aside the ones that don’t appear useful and study the ones they like. They explain to me which photos encapsulate the subject best – facial expressions, poses, and backgrounds they like. Normally there are many favorite photographs which means we will need several layouts.”
Jann paints smaller versions of the portrait and shows them to the families for approval. These smaller layouts show different variations of the poses, colors, and backgrounds that the client is invited to choose from.
“My clients end up becoming my friends,” Jann says. “We spend so much time working on these paintings of their family, and I just love every second of it.”
Beyond her own work, Jann and her husband Bill simply love studying beautiful works of art.
“We went to our first gallery in London a number of years ago and spent all our time studying art. We could spend hours in a museum and our friends would get so bored because we just love it and study each detail,” Bill says.
Jann counts the Smithsonian and Musée d’Orsay in Paris as her favorite museums. She is inspired by the works of Van Dyck, Sargent, William Merritt Chase, and Winterhalter, among many others.
She recalls having counted all her completed work. “I believe back then I had hundreds of finished portraits… that was 20 years ago.”

Jann Daughdrill
Contact Info: jannw.daughdrill@gmail.com