Big Brother/ Little Brother, New and Better Photos!

 

Big Brother, new photo

 

 

Little Brother, new photo

 

I took a look at the paintings again and realized just how off the photos I posted really were.  I guess that’s what you get for trying to get things done in a rush through nap time! So I took new photos in the morning light in my living room with it’s great big windows, and NOT in my studio, and I think the result is much better.  The other photos gave  the impression that the colors were a bit harsh and dark, when in fact they are soft and creamy….yes I know that sounds strange but those are the best words I can think of.  Even these photos aren’t PERFECT…man it is hard to take a perfect match photo of your painting, even with all the help of Lightroom.  Little Brother looks good, but the chair in the photo of Big Brother has a slight green hue to it that I can not explain.  In the painting it is a cream with a hint of yellow, perfectly matching Little Brother’s chair.  Oh well, I tried my best. At least these give you a much  better look at the real deal.

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Outtakes

Hello out there, I’m back!  Yes, I took a rather long summer hiatus, but I’m back, ready to work and tell you all about it.   I’m happy to say I have a few projects lined up, starting with two portraits of these adorable brothers.   I thought I would wait to post something until I’d actually started the paintings, but since I’ve been so delayed in getting back to work, I decided to do a quickie sneak peak blog with the photographs I will be using and some of the outtakes.

Big Brother/Outtake 1

Big Brother/Outtake 2

Big Brother/ For Portrait

Seriously, I could write an entire book on how difficult and hysterical it is to take portraits of kids.  I invited them over thinking it would be easy.  I have a great camera, and I could just stick them in a neutral colored chair with some good lighting and click and click until something turned out.  But even with the most delightful and well behaved children (and these boys are really amazing) it is quite a job to get them to sit still and smile and look at the camera, all at once.

But I would really like to think that, despite a dozen blurry photographs, something turned out.  I think I got two images that really capture the personalities of these little men…and a few cute outtakes, to boot.

Little Brother/Outtake

Little Brother/For Portrait

Now let’s see what I can do with them on canvas…

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Monday Pick Me Up-Dangerous Beauty

I was telling our son Owen that for many people, Easter marks the beginning of Spring.  That where we come from, the trees are turning green and the flowers are starting to grow.  Some tire of the endless Summer of Caracas, but seeing the tropical flora of our neighborhood gives me the same rush some of you are getting back home on these first warm days of Spring.

What I love about these dainty little rose colored flowers (whose names I tried to find and failed miserably) is that they grow on thorny stems sharp as barbed wire.  I love painting cacti because they are so beautiful and so fierce, like South America.  I wish I could have taken a better photo with our Canon T1i, but when I am out and about I carry a small, unassuming camera.  Because unlike these dangerous beauties, I am unarmed.

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Monday Pick Me Up-Orange, Brown, and Blue

Here it is, your Monday Morning Pick me up.  A rich color scheme of orange, brown, and blue, that pervaded the photographs taken of our Sunday morning spent in the Embassy playground with our friends and their dogs.

Though these images were taken here, in Caracas, Venezuela, the colors make me think of the American South West….

Caracas is a difficult post, but getting together with other members of the Embassy community helps a lot.  Especially those with dogs and/or babies!  Look how happy they are! Although Charlie was MIA the moment the photo was taken, rest assured he was off being traviesito somewhere close by.

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…And so, our outdoor photo shoot (so to speak) in the morning inspired an indoor photo shoot of the same color scheme in the afternoon.  Here I am cleaning off our young model after a pre photo shoot oreo.

Orange tee-shirt by Penguin.  Rug by Dwell Studio for Target Kids….or something like that.  Adorable blue knit teddy bear by Baby Gap.  Modeled by Kate and Owen Laufert, of Vida Viva

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