I have recently painted the portraits of three dear friends. There was a little arm twisting involved but in the end they were pretty  good sports and gave me permission. It can be intimidating to have your portrait painted.  Like hearing your own voice recorded. (Do I really sound like a chipmunk?) Seeing yourself as others see you can be discouraging. So it is important that we do our best to accurately depict our model. Just as important, in my opinion, is to bring out the beauty we see in that person. The fact that the three recent portraits are of lovely young ladies was a big help.  But suppose you are not painting physically lovely or handsome people. Can you accurately depict a person and bring out what you find attractive about them? I think it is possible if you look for and define that special quality you see in the person. Kind eyes, an encouraging smile, a gentile spirit can be even more lovely than surface beauty.
There are plenty of unattractive qualities that creep into our lives. All of us have them. Some more than others. Grumpiness, negative outlooks, complaining and discouragements abound. These are easy to see for the most part since they seem to surround us. So it may take some effort to spot good qualities in a curmudgeon. I think it is worth a try.  If we start seeing the beautiful side of the people around us it stands to reason that we will be surrounded with beauty!  If , on the other hand, we only see the garbage...you get the picture.  Being an artist, I love being around beauty.  I just need to look for it. Best wishes, Jerry