You haven't heard from me for a long time.....and this is the reason for that! I have been working on this for months, and months, and months! It started out as an idea for a living room re-do. Carly (my daughter-in-law) told me she was wanting to change her living room. She was tired of the old 'look' and wanted something new. We talked about the colors she wanted to incorporate--pale blues, sea-foam green, pale teal, tan, white--and she said she wanted a painting to put in the alcove that had been designed for a television set. She and I are of the same mind there. Living rooms are no place for a television set, unless there is no other place! The space was quite massive, so we figured a painting that was about 40" square would be a good fit. I have never painted something that large, but wanted to give it a try! She said that just a contemporary bunch of colors--abstract would be fine, but I knew I didn't want to do what we term 'couch art,' so I told her I would come up with something.
It started with a photograph of Carly, Carson and Jace in the local water park. There is a wonderful splash pad and 'lazy river' in the downtown St. George park, so we went down and let the kids play. I took the picture. Tom and Talia were elsewhere. In fact, I'm thinking that Talia wasn't even born at that time. I started with a sketch of the original three, then added something that I had taken of my other son, Clint, who was holding his baby boy. Later, I had to have Tom pose with Talia, to get the picture to look more like him.
Now a true professional portrait painter would never do what I did. They would take a picture of the whole group, and pay strict attention to the lighting, and go from there. So, this has been madness from the inception of this idea. It was fun, though, to start with the background, and do something that had the feel of a day at the beach. I was careful to use the colors we picked in the fabrics for the new pillows.....
So, on and on I went, adding more paint, layer after layer, and then it came time for the people. Now, that was the really difficult thing. You must have every nuance right, if it is to look like the person, and I am not quite as skilled as I would like. So, I began with Carly, and ended with Tom and the baby. I have decided that I know why 'folk art' has such weird-looking babies and children. The painters made them look like they were dwarves, instead of babies and children. It's difficult not to. I can't tell you how many times I have painted, and re-painted Talia. Endless.
So, like any good artist, I am going to give it a rest. It is as complete as I can make it right now, so it is going to Las Vegas to live in Tom and Carly's house, to cover the space in their television alcove, until I decide how I can make it better, and take it home for a weekend to make the change! You realize, of course, that it may be like this for posterity. Sorry Talia. I tried. I really did. Your granny is just not a portrait painter! The most I can hope for is that you will know that it is made with a great deal of love!
So, I'm off to Quilt Market for the week--where I will surround myself with artists of a different kind. Once I am back from Pittsburgh, I will decide on a new painting. Hopefully it will be one that won't take years to complete. Forty inches square is a lot of canvas to cover, and I have always liked to do layers of paint. Gives more depth. So, the next one won't be quite this big. Don't think I'll do any people I want to be recognizable for a while! Ha ha. Still hasn't killed the joy of painting! If anything, it has deepened the desire to be a good painter!
Detail of Carson and Jace....
And Carly. I love these people!
