Ellen Cooper is a contemporary American portrait artist whose refined painting style and approach to her subjects has garnered her numerous awards and prominent mention in several publications.

She studied at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and pursued additional study under contemporary portrait masters Burton Silverman and Daniel Greene.

Cooper’s website portfolio is divided into Portraits and Paintings. In the former section, you’ll find a range of approaches, from formal and corporate to informal compositions in which her subjects are portrayed in settings that add to the revelation of their personalities. I find that kind of portrait particularly appealing, and more of an opportunity to meet a portrait painter as a painter.

When viewing the images on her site, note the magnifying glass icon under the images that is linked to larger versions, even thought the initial images themselves are not.

Even more revealing of Cooper’s abilities and sensibilities as painter are the gallery pieces in the Paintings section. In these, she is still exploring portrait and figurative subjects, but freed from the restraints of commissioned portraiture. Here you can see her deft control of value relationships and muted color.

Cooper seems particularly adept at portraying the subtle expressions that convey personality in her portraits of children, adolescents and women, who are frequently depicted in less formal poses and environments than their male counterparts.

You can find additional examples of her gallery paintings, along with drawings, on the Haynes Galleries website.