Portrait of Your Child by Anastasia Egeli Anastasia Egeli began painting portraits when she was only seven, making her debut as a painter at a Cape Cod street festival. Educated from childhood in the technical discipline demanded by classic portraiture, Anastasia began painting professionally in 1990 when she was a college student. She came by her talent naturally. Her artistic lineage can be traced back three generations and includes her late grandfather, renowned portraitist and sculptor Bjorn Egeli. Her parents, each a respected and well-known painter, have been her most influential teachers.

The focus of Egeli's portraiture is the relationship of a subject to his or her surroundings and the distinctive interplay of light and color created by each person she paints. Although her subjects are of all ages, Anastasia especially enjoys creating portraits of children. She finds great beauty in the effect of natural light upon the soft, yet intricate, complexions of her young subjects. She likes to begin the creative process by visiting the subject in his or her surroundings and doing thumbnail sketches in natural light. As she makes the sketches and interacts with the subject, Egeli observes facial expressions and body language and begins to sense the individual qualities of the person she is to paint. Artist and subject together select the most comfortable environment and decide on the best lighting in which to work. Once a decision is made about the composition, Egeli takes photographs for reference and begins the portrait from a live sitting. She then returns to her studio to complete the painting. Another sitting is scheduled for final adjustments.