Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

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GDOsborne
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Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by GDOsborne » Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:17 pm

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
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Retirement Record - page 1 of 7.jpg
Retirement Record - page 1 of 7.jpg (625.08 KiB) Viewed 11828 times
EA Olmsted Picture.jpg
EA Olmsted Picture.jpg (15.2 KiB) Viewed 11828 times
EA Olmsted 60's.jpg
EA Olmsted 60's.jpg (2.25 MiB) Viewed 11828 times
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Phil (Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:27 pm)

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Phil » Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:27 pm

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.
Phil

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Temujin
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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Temujin » Sat Jul 21, 2018 7:31 am

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
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Phil (Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:25 am)

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by GDOsborne » Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:34 am

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!

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Temujin » Wed Jul 25, 2018 2:38 pm

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

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Temujin » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:04 pm

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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03BD4F52-FDE1-4E9B-A9A5-CAAA47C6ACC7.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

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Temujin » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:35 pm

Medal colours

1939-45 Star
F31D4669-6CDA-40BE-8A38-817119CC0BB8.gif
F31D4669-6CDA-40BE-8A38-817119CC0BB8.gif (156.89 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
France and Germany Star
A326533F-B38B-4D0E-A74F-B9F07C17FD74.gif
A326533F-B38B-4D0E-A74F-B9F07C17FD74.gif (162.49 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
Defence Medal
C9233562-0C22-4C70-BF7E-78A35A6D82E3.gif
C9233562-0C22-4C70-BF7E-78A35A6D82E3.gif (194.32 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp (clasp was for over 60 days Service overseas)
CD22C4AA-EE5A-41A0-9318-F5D4A9F49D52.gif
CD22C4AA-EE5A-41A0-9318-F5D4A9F49D52.gif (166.25 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
War Medal ......with Mention in Dispatches clasp
54EF97A2-40F1-4C20-AC3B-8E45318571C8.gif
54EF97A2-40F1-4C20-AC3B-8E45318571C8.gif (148.82 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
Canadian Forces Decoration
2DA7DB57-926C-409D-AB4E-92E31850B3C6.jpeg
2DA7DB57-926C-409D-AB4E-92E31850B3C6.jpeg (32.14 KiB) Viewed 11794 times
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Phil (Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:10 am)

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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by klambie » Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:28 pm

Ribbons look correct in his portrait except for the missing rosette on his CD.
90px-CD-ribbon_and_bar.png
90px-CD-ribbon_and_bar.png (2.34 KiB) Viewed 11791 times
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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by GDOsborne » Wed Aug 01, 2018 3:05 pm

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/
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Lt Col EA Olmsted.jpg
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Re: Commissioning a Military Portrait - WWII Veteran

Post by Phil » Wed Aug 01, 2018 7:27 pm

Wow, that's fantastic! Yeah I think that's the same company I mentioned early, looks like they do great work.
Phil

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