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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Big Brother/Little Brother, Completed!

 

Big Brother

 

 

Little Brother

 

What did I tell you? I said I’d finish them in a week, and amazingly enough, I did. In spite of Owen being sick, and my husband being away, I put the finishing touches on the portraits Friday night.  Although I might have my husband retake the photos when he gets back, because Little brother is a bit blurry, and I’m not sure if the colors aren’t slightly off from the actual paintings.  I think the paintings are a little bit brighter than their photos.  Anyway, I’m really pleased with how the paintings turned out.

 

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Big Brother/Little Brother, in progress

 

Big Brother

 

 

Little Brother

 

It’s taken me far longer than planned to post photos of these works in progress.

The first reason is I got delayed in the middle of painting when I ran out of white paint and painting medium. Yes, water soluble oil colors can be mixed with water, but the result is awful! If you want them to look like the real thing, use linseed or almond oil.  Anyway,  as anyone living here will tell you, the mail here is unpredictable…I was put out of work for a few weeks.  Taught me a lesson though…I will stay fully stocked at all times!

The second reason/excuse is just me.  I didn’t want to post them because they didn’t look good enough to me yet.  I can see how they are going to look, I know what my next moves are, but how can anyone else see that? Especially the clients?

I guess it takes some guts.   But for the record, let me just say that they both need more work in the hair, especially little brother, and that I need to put the shadow into the left side of big brother’s face, I think. I keep putting it in and taking it out, because it somehow makes him look older, but I need it there for the source of light.  I’ve also spent a lot more time on big brother, so it is more finished looking.  But man, for some reason this was one of the hardest portraits I have ever painted. I haven’t even kept track of the amount of hours I have put into it, I don’t think I can handle the truth!  Something about this kid’s face is hard to capture, not only his bone structure, but that sweet, yet slightly shy, slightly mischievious grin.  Am I over thinking it maybe? Hmmm, I do tend to do that.  I’m working on it.  But I think it will really look like him when I put in the freckles, don’t you?

I also am trying to create a dynamic between the two paintings with the poses of the boys; how big brother is sinking into the chair and little brother is jumping out of the chair.  When I finish them, I want that to really stand out, so the paintings work as a pair, with a sense of movement and play.

Oh yeah and I need to fix the eye color on both paintings.  And of course, paint the shirts (no it will not be that awful green, I’m working on it).

So here they are, my guess about a week from being finished.

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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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Work in progress…

As I wrote last week, I am in the process of finishing unfinished projects and painting the many unpainted canvases and wooden surfaces I’ve collected. Here is one of them.  A wooden shelf that’s been sitting in a pile waiting to be painted from Baltimore to Bogotá to Caracas.  So last week I slapped on a layer of gesso followed by a layer of blue acrylic paint and let it sit on the floor a while.  I figured eventually it would tell me what to do with it.

I should probably mention that since I started working on so many paintings at once, and since Owen got tall enough to reach my paints, I rearranged the guest room and am once again I am enjoying a full studio, with paintings spread out all around me.  It really is a nice set up, a room with a view even.  The one exception being the bed….which I have moved to the side and am hoping to convert into a sort of loungey couch to lure visitors into modeling for me. Which leads me to my second point. I recently declared defiantly to someone who was telling me to paint more portraits that I was intent on painting more of my botanicals, only to realize a few days later I had an awful hankering to paint a person.  The thing is, mind you, that there really is a difference between painting commissioned portraits and simply painting people.   Don’t get me wrong, I do love the challenge of painting portraits.  But I love painting people in my own,  more naturalistic hand, letting the basic geometric forms of the face come forward.  This painting, of my husband, is only a few hours in and probably a few hours from finished.  Still, I don’t plan on polishing it a whole lot.

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