Sunday 11 July 2010

Painting for a Cause


Both my wife and my daughter-in-law will be celebrating a birthday this Sunday, and of course the same old question crops up "What on earth shall I buy for a present"! Well I managed to come up with something for my wife - eventually, and it came through the post this morning with just two days to go.
As for my daughter-in-law, I'd been thinking for some time before I thought "Why don't I do her a painting?". I mean, I've been doing quite a lot these past few months and my style and technique has improved a lot (I think?), so what shall I paint? A portrait of the two grandchildren would be nice, but I've got to get a reasonably good likeness, otherwise my offering would likely be tossed in the bin the moment my back is turned!


With only a few days to go, I set about the work. A couple of hours saw the drawings finished, and two or three more saw the paintings done. I was reasonably pleased with the likeness for Thomas, who's eyes I turned downwards a little as he was looking up in the photo, but William's proved more tricky. The lips, nose and eyes just didn't look right, so my best (and most honest) critic - my wife - helped me pinpoint the errors somewhat. While not being able to draw herself, she has a keen eye for detail and a remarkable knack of seeing where the lines are going wrong. Just for good measure, I took the painting along to art class for my tutor to look at too, and she came up with much the same advice as my wife.


With a little bit of 'lifting off' and trimming and shading here and there, the likeness improved somewhat, though some things still niggle me a little.


So that's it then, framed and all wrapped ready to go on Sunday. I just hopes she likes it, and it doesn't get consigned to the back of the cupboard or top shelf gathering dust!


7 comments:

  1. I'm sure she will love it! Darling portraits of both boys. The soft colors you've used are just right. And I think the likeness is a very good one. :)

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  2. I think the painting is a lovely gift Frank .... and you have achieved their likeness. I agree with Crystal that the soft colours work really well.

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  3. Thanks Crystal and Alice for your lovely comments. Seeing the look of complete shock and wave of emotion on my daughter-in-law's face as she opened the present, made it all worthwhile and any inhibitions that I had just melted away!

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  4. Hats off to you Frank, these are great. You must have felt so pleased (and relieved) when you saw your daught-in-laws reaction. Well done. ;-)

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  5. I think 'relieved' was more the case John, and to think that I nearly didn't give her the painting at all!

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  6. Ahhh... What a very special gift! And of course she loved it! It's unique and special. It's a very good likeness too. You should be as thrilled with them as your Daughter in Law is!

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  7. The one thing I didn't mention Sandra, is that when you are painting such beautiful children as this, you are scared that you may do them an injustice with a poor painting. It is thrilling when something turns out like this, you are right.

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