Sunday, February 15, 2009

Portrait for my mother in law

My mum-in-law turns 80 in April and she has always been a great supporter of my art work. For a gift I wondered if she would like a flattering portrait of her (she is very vehement that flattering is a necessity at her age) or one of her son and grand-daughter. I thought I'd try the latter because it is easier to get the subjects together and I might even be able to coerce them into posing whilst I added the finishing touch.

The results is not a total likeness but close enough. I managed to get my husband to pose for the finishing touches but no way was the 5 year old able to stay still for longer than 30 seconds. He then said that I had to add more hair because "surely my forehead isn't as empty!" Ha-ha... Anyway, to satisfy him, I did so and now the portrait looks like him 10 years ago!
I continued to struggle with getting a likeness of the 5 year old - children are HARD to paint, they have little defining features and have generally smooth complexions. There is not much to distinguish my little darling from other children.
However, I'm not unhappy with the results because this shows them as they are a lot of the time, enjoying cuddles and a closeness between father and daughter. I feel sure that my mother-in-law will like it - she adores her grand-daughter.

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