the 4 year project - post one!

Well it's that time, every four years or so I paint a double portrait of my kids, to chart their growth and personality (well as best I can). I have a bit of a dream of one day when I'm old and gray hanging all these works together and seeing them all side by side. Who knows if I'll ever get there, but we all need to dream of something!

It's a personal painting, but it can take an unseasonable amount of time to finish since I don't regard myself as a skilled portrait painter. Additionally, I rarely paint the figure , so I need to relearn color ranges and methods as I go. In short the painting can take a while to complete. 

I paint it from photographs over many months, in amongst many other projects.  I thought this time I would post each stage up on my blog, at the end I'll do a big summary post, (but who knows when that will be).... Stay tuned.

The original line work blocked in.

Looking pretty robust, but somethings not quite right in the face of my eldest son (seated), not sure how to fix it yet? Usually he's the one I find easier to paint... Also pondering, if my other son is tilting his head and wearing his glasses squint, should I fix the glasses, so his eyes don't appear too wonky?... Also forgot to add my standing sons foot, oops. He'll fall over unless I put that in!

The color plan

I create these color plans in a similar way to my still life paintings. I photograph the painting of the line work (seen above), I then bring it into photoshop and add some quick colors to get a feel for my proposed palette. This in turn guides me with under painting, as well as the final piece. Sometimes I move away from this plan as I paint, but usually I stick pretty close to it.