This family portrait has been compiled from a number of photographs, chosen for the background and the three family members. I did a number of sketches before I decided on the right composition as I wanted to include the elephant in the background without it looking contrived. Also the positioning needed careful attention due to the light sources being different in each photo. After preparing a canvas board with a wash of yellow ochre and cadmium yellow for background warmth, I carefully drew the figures. Then I blocked in the sky with a mix of cerulean blue and titanium white before mixing umbers and ochres with white for the land. I painted the elephant, blocked in the trees and T-shirts and left it to dry. Next I painted the shadows and the hat with burnt umber to create my underpinning structure. Again I let the paint dry so I could paint a glaze of flesh tint over the top and not lose the features. I worked into the glaze with tints of crimson, cadmium red, yellow ochre, Paynes grey and burnt umber mixed with a little white in the latter glazes. The painting is only A3 size so I am working with very small brushes and trying not to change the shapes too much. Having spent time on the faces I changed my attention to the hair and the rest of the canvas. I darkened the hat and put more detail on the shirt. The canvas now needs to dry a little before I can work more glazes into the skin tones. On this post I have included a selection of some of the frames available at my framer although she has more!
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