A beautiful series of portraits by London-based painter, Alan Coulson. Of course, being a portrait artist can be a crowded field, but there are some that stand out, not for a photoreal style but for the ability to capture a feeling and emotions in the work. Few do it better than Coulson. His work is currently on display at London's National Portrait Gallery for the ???? BP Portrait Award 2012.

Alexa Meade has long been a subject of our fascination and awe, as she transforms live models into living paintings in both gallery and performance settings. She brings paintings to life, so to speak. Tonight, June 6, at the National Portrait Gallery Museum in Washington, DC, Meade will create a pair of portraits with live models—one in a black-and-white scene and a second on a similar, but full-color set, with viewers being able to watch and interact with the process.

Lucian Freud was one of the most famed and talented painters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His portraiture is unprecedented in its intensely psychological attention to detail . Currently on view until May 27th is a retrospective of his portraits spanning the majority of his career focusing on the various subjects that moved in and out of his work.

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC has denied the request of Canadian photographer AA Bronson to have his famed photograph, "Felix, June 5, 1994," removed from the Gallery's Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibition. The point of contention after the jump . . .