Mother and Son
Painting from a photo provided by the husband and father of this sleeping pair… I don’t know if I’ve made the mom as beautiful as she is, but I hope he’ll be happy. Capturing a likeness requires the most rigorous observation of any subject that I know. I made two pencil drawings and wiped out my initial line block-in three times before settling on this. I don’t use tracing, because I feel there’s nothing to be gained by that. Afterall you can’t find any better way to work on observation and drawing skills. The scale, angles and planes of the face and head are so important to rendering a portrait. And then there is the enjoyable challenge of mixing flesh tones, etc. This painting is 12×16 oil on panel. Thanks to Dad for supplying me with such a beautiful image to work from.
