Family portrait commission
phase 2

This stage of the painting is after about 6 to 8 hours of painting. I decided to work on the background which is getting close to completion. The big tree will have to be simplified more and I am trying to find the right colors for the lights and darks. I plan to put some of the big leaves in front of the tree like what is seen in the photo. I think in doing so it will break up the strong heavy shape of the tree. After the background is complete I plan to work on the dogs. Then will come the reworking of the faces, upon which most of my painting hours will be spent. Also, I guess it's important to note that in this digital image the colors are not exact. No matter how many shots I take at different settings getting the true color is pretty much impossible. If you click on the picture you should be able to see a larger version, then click to return.

Family portrait commission
reference photo

Family portrait commission
phase 1
alkyd oil paint on canvas
24 x 30 inches

For the past couple weeks I have been working on a family portrait commission. It will be taking up most of my painting time, so I thought to post it as a work in progress. I regret that I did not take a photo of the drawing on the canvas. I felt I did a fairly good job capturing the likeness of all three. However, it happens quite often that once you start putting paint to the drawing you can sometimes lose the likeness and have to work at getting it back. I imagine I will be reworking the faces quite a few times. I do know I am not alone in this process in making more than one attempt to "get it right". There will be many changes made to this painting in the weeks to come. I originally had the big tree behind in the background but it looked so obtrusive, so I wiped it out. Because this photo was taken on the family's property the tree is probably important to have in the painting so the big tree will be going back in.

bi - weekly challenge

Victorian Cats
Oil
8 x 10 inches

I happened upon an artist's blog that has a bi-weekly challenge. The artist is Karin Jurick and the challenge is called Different Strokes For Different Folks. This week's challenge was a photograph of a Victorian House. I painted fairly close to what the photo looked like, but added the two cats. I normally do not care to paint houses and buildings so this was definitely a challenge for me.