Thanks, Tom! I'm not used to working with artificial lighting so at first the shadows were a bit startling. Then I began to like the way they were attached to the figures like cut-out shapes, kind of like the nursery rhyme, "I have a little shadow. . ." and I began to see them as a compositional asset. Not that I haven't painted shadows before, but these were so close and dark against the white wall, you know what I mean? I just couldn't fudge them or belittle them.

And Claudimir, thank you, too! I really appreciate your kind words.

This painting's got it all. Wow. Tongue-tied. Beautiful. Janet

Alex,
thanks so much for showing the close ups, now I really wanted to see this in person. I think that I am going to give this technique a try

Allan,

A demo might take a while, but for now I'll try to get a couple of photos of me mixing paints so you can get the idea. It's really not that luscious. I wish it were more luscious. I'm working in that direction. (While I'm painting I always feel it is luscious, but then I'm always amazed and frustrated at how thin it really is!) When I first started painting as a teenager I think I was highly influenced by my parents' negative attitude toward waste. You couldn't waste a good piece of paper if you only needed a scrap. You couldn't throw out a small bit of leftover food. I was in awe of the expensive oil paints and I used them sparingly, plus I figured out how to stretch them out with medium. You get the idea. Anyway, this habit is taking me a long time to break.

I've noticed that when I paint totally from life I put more paint down. It's just so much easier to see what should be emphasized. I'm working on how to transfer that to working with digital photos. I would guess that working from a monitor as you do would be pretty close.

On my first layers when I'm painting really loosely, I mix in some Gamsol. Most areas get about three layers, and by the time I'm up to the last layer, the darks have a little Gamsol mixed in because they are thinner, and the light areas are just paint mixed from the tubes. That way I get a nice soft edge, or crisper (but still soft) accents.

Alex

Dear Alex,

I have been watching this thread all week, but haven't had the chance until now to start putting down my response into words.

Beyond its original and spectacular execution, I find this painting to be heroic. Sort of a simple honest American worker and family version of the statue of Iwo Jima. Or Rosie the Riveter.

Lines form this old Nana Mouskouri song suddnely popped into my head- I haven't even heard thought of this song for twenty years!

"Sons of true love and sons of regret
All of their sons you cannot forget
Some built the roads, some wrote the poems
Some went to war, some never came home"

This painting belongs on the lobby wall of the US Department of Labor.

Alex, all I can do is echo what everyone else has already said (more eloquently than I ever could).

Bravo! I wish I had painted this. I wish I COULD paint this.

Chris has said, wordsmith that she is, what I couldn't when I saw this. The word I thought was iconic but it seemed wrong-she got it right with heroic. And the sons, fathers, brothers, husbands. Proud workers and craftsmen. That's it. Perfect.

Gosh, you guys, I am just totally overwhelmed by your comments!

Chris, to think that it reminds you of that song--those few words suggest so many emotions and images.

Chris and Janet, to say this painting is "heroic" makes me feel like a vessel though which something was expressed. It's kind of awesome. I feel you must be exaggerating. I KNOW you must be exaggerating!

Cindy, thank you so much for your incredibly generous words!

The father-son relationship in this painting is very special, I think. They tended to fall into the same position which seemed to describe the way they work in tandem. Both father and son are quiet men. The father is a highly skilled craftsman who impressed me right away 20-some years ago when he first did some plastering work for us. He had such an impressive work ethic and did everything with an artistic sensibility. His son started working for him when he was still a teenager and now does a lot of ornamental work while his father assists him, so I guess he is slowly taking over. I wanted to express this dynamic in the painting. The father and son look very different and act different in certain ways, but there seems to be this easy harmony when they work together that comes from the father understanding his role of bringing up a son and then encouraging him to become all he can be, even if he (the father) takes a back seat eventually. In a way, the father keeps his position of respect by doing this.

By the way, the son is also a visual artist (painter).

Alex,

I like so much about this, it would be easier to tell you what I don't like about this painting. I know this is the unveiling section, and not a place for anything negative but
I can't help but say I don't like that it isn't mine.

I really, really like the perspective.

Great portrait!!

You almost had me fooled, Janel! (I'm easily fooled, one of my more embarrassing traits.) Anyway, thanks so much for the "critique." The perspective was challenging. One of my worries was how to make the father look taller (which he is) although the sharp perspective angle, and the fact that he is behind his son, make him lower down in the composition. I ended up exaggerating his height slightly, and hoping that the angle of the cornice and the closeness of his shadow to the top of his head would give the right information to the viewer.