It’s DONE!
I have finally finished a painting that I started a couple of years ago then set aside. The kind of painter I have traditionally been is one who paints for an hour to two hours and am about finished with the piece. Seldom do I work and then set a piece aside planning to work on it later, but that was the case with this one. This is how it was when I left it two years ago.
As you can see, I left it in a loose state which I did want to keep, but also I wanted to fill in the white spaces. While these girls – the one on the left and the one in the middle – are my nieces, the one of the right is my daughter. I wanted a “loose likeness” at least, while not describing every detail. More and more, I am more interested in letting the viewer ultimately fill in the details. I worked more on Catherine (far left) getting her arm and hand placed and ever had to make some other adjustments. I needed to develop the hands more on all the figures. I liked the background. I kept it almost the same as when I first started this painting. These gals are actually sitting on a screened-in porch and the background is made of some landscaping. I liked keeping it like this. Overall, I was most interested in capturing the figures, the emotion of the setting, the figures’ expressions and overall mood and feeling of the image. The light in the image, while very challenging, attracted me to paint this. Most of all, I wanted to capture my daughter Olivia’s fascination listening to her cousins’ conversation. When they are that young, they think their cousins hung the moon and really study and observe them. That is exactly what Olivia was doing here, and that is why I snapped the photo to begin with. So, after a few more hours of work, this is how the painting ended up! It’s 24″ x 48″, oil on canvas and entitled “Cousin Convos”.
Hope you enjoy it!
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So glad you finished this, Claire, especially since little Olivia is now a young woman in college! I like the combination of detail and looseness. Paint on and blog on!
Thank you, Anne! Yes, I should have added that Olivia is now 19 years old and her cousins are 27 and 28 years old. I appreciate your input as well. Miss you! Thank you!