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Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:17 pm
by GDOsborne
Hi All,

I am commissioning a military portrait on my grandfather (Earl A. Olmsted) - a WWII veteran (see other post in this section for reference).

I have hired an experienced portrait artist but I am seeking some advice to help guide her. She is not a military portrait artist, but she has done them in the past. It is a family friend.

Does anyone have any experience with military portraits? I was hoping to consult someone to ensure proper colours, historical accuracy, portrayal of medals, etc. I have no idea who / where to reach out on this... Which has led me to post here!

He retired as a Lt. Col. in the 60's. I have 2 pictures of him that give some insight into what I believe his most senior uniform looked like and how he wore it. I was also planning to use the summary of his medals from his retirement package.

Greatly appreciate any insights you might have! If you know someone with experience in this field I would love their contact information (send direct message).

Regards,
GO

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:27 pm
by Phil
I'm afraid I don't have any experience, but I'd love to follow along.

I know there was a project to colourize 100+ WW1 photos by a company called Canadian Color,

http://www.canadiancolour.ca/

A fellow by the name of Mark Truelove seems to have done the work, and they take commissions. Perhaps commissioning a colourization of the digital photo would provide a good source for the portrait.

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2018 7:31 am
by Temujin
I probably can give you more help with this.....but, I’m away right now (In Prague) and will be returning next Tuesday. So when I get back I’ll help you and post photo’s and info on uniform, color’s, medals etc etc. Pictures of all the medals are available on line if you wish to see them.

Cheers and talk to you again soon

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:34 am
by GDOsborne
Fantastic. The timeline for this project is going to be about 4-5mo.

That’s great to know about the photo colourization initiative... I actually had a separate question on doing that so it’s definitely something I will follow up on!

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:38 pm
by Temujin
I’m back and ready to help. So, what would you need exactly? And I’ll then post information?

I’m assuming you need his uniform colour, and his medal colours (if you haven’t already got them?

Let me know and I’ll get on it

Cheers

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:04 pm
by Temujin
Here are a couple of pictures of uniform colour. One uniform is “cut” for kilts......but both give you the colour, and one the colour of the shirt and tie, Sam Browne, etc.
8D31A9A4-A172-43DB-81B5-2759FC456EB0.jpeg
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Rank badges are not correct on these, his rank at retirement was LCol......so that would be Crown over One Pip

The “pips” are what you see in these photos on their epaulettes. 2 “pips” is a Lieutenant, 3 “pips” is a Captain, a Crown is a Major, a Crown and 1 “pip” is a Lieutenant Colonel

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:35 pm
by Temujin
Medal colours

1939-45 Star
F31D4669-6CDA-40BE-8A38-817119CC0BB8.gif
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France and Germany Star
A326533F-B38B-4D0E-A74F-B9F07C17FD74.gif
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Defence Medal
C9233562-0C22-4C70-BF7E-78A35A6D82E3.gif
C9233562-0C22-4C70-BF7E-78A35A6D82E3.gif (194.32 KiB) Viewed 11791 times
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp (clasp was for over 60 days Service overseas)
CD22C4AA-EE5A-41A0-9318-F5D4A9F49D52.gif
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War Medal ......with Mention in Dispatches clasp
54EF97A2-40F1-4C20-AC3B-8E45318571C8.gif
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Canadian Forces Decoration
2DA7DB57-926C-409D-AB4E-92E31850B3C6.jpeg
2DA7DB57-926C-409D-AB4E-92E31850B3C6.jpeg (32.14 KiB) Viewed 11791 times

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:28 pm
by klambie
Ribbons look correct in his portrait except for the missing rosette on his CD.
90px-CD-ribbon_and_bar.png
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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 3:05 pm
by GDOsborne
Thanks all. This is all great information - really appreciate the insights.

I think I've got plenty of information to go off of now so I will post further questions if the portrait artist indicates more information would be helpful.

I paid to have the original photo colourized and the results are quite good (I think). If anyone is interested in getting a similar photo colourized I recommend checking this group out: https://www.facebook.com/canadiancolour/

Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 7:27 pm
by Phil
Wow, that's fantastic! Yeah I think that's the same company I mentioned early, looks like they do great work.