Boy with Pinecones
 

This is the brother of the little girl with the bunny.

Oil on Linen, 20"x16"

Terri,
You have a lovely and dsitintive soft touch to your work. I love it. Beautifully done. :thumbsup:

Richard is right!
 

Terri,

This is a wonderfully warm, and accomplished portrait. Those hands are so sensitive. That they are holding such an exquisite pinecone, conveys to me that you have immortalized an intellegent young naturalist, in the making. The content of your portraits add so much rich biographical dimension to your subjects. The abstract color harmony is quite wonderful too. This is a perfect companion to the painting of his sister. Thanks for sharing this.

Garth

Wow
 

Oh, Terri-

What a wonderful, sensitively done portrait! These childrens' parents must be ecstatic!

Terri,

Very nice!

The question begging to be answered is about the pine cones. There must be a story behind them.

I, too, am thankful for your sharing it with us.

Thanks Richard! Growing up, I used to draw very detailed drawings, but so softly on the paper that the darkest value was probably a 7 and all the shading was collapsed into that range. Avoiding contrast the way some people avoid conflict. :bewildere I still have to remind myself to make sure the darks are dark enough!

Hey there Garth-- Thanks so much for all those nice comments! I've been trying to incorporate elements that reflect a bit about the subject just to keep things more interesting. . .

Julie - thanks! The clients haven't seen either portrait completed yet... will be contacting them early this week to arrange a viewing. I've got my fingers crossed.

Thanks John! The pinecones... well, for one thing they were really HUGE. In the background of the little girls portrait, there was a large bowl of them between the 2 candlesticks. And they were used decoratively around on window sills, etc. When I'd asked the Mom for suggestions of what might be meaningful to include with each of the children, these were suggested for the boy. He was too interested in my camera and computer set-up to want to talk about the pine cones, though... so I never got the story! They were kind-of-fun to paint. Here's the other one:

Terry,
congratulations with those two portraits of sister and brother. I think that they are very well balanced and both executed in a delicate manner.

I am impressed of your handling of details such as the bunny and the pine cones. They really add to the story of these children and sort of double the interest of the personality of them.

The cones adds a sort of transparency to the boy

Terri, you have a very distinct and recognizable style. Your paintings are always so soothing and tranquil to me. I know the parents will love it and treasure the pair. :thumbsup:

Magnificent!

You've done it again! Gorgeous work, masterfully executed, wonderfully understated expression, color harmony - just right...all with the classic Ficenec touch. Beautiful.

Mary, Michele, David -- Thank you--I'm thrilled at such a positive response!

This one practically painted itself. I really liked the way the light fell on him. The contrast in effort in painting this pair of siblings (with such a difference in lighting situations) will be strong in my mind on every reference shoot from here on out! :o

Thanks again!

Terri, the parents are very lucky. I'd like to see how they decide to hang them. The boy flows from left to right, while the girl, right to left. The rendering is great on both. They came out ''TerriFic''enec. Sorry, could'nt help myself. ;)

Hi Jimmy - thanks!
LOL, Let's just say I'm glad I didn't marry someone named 'Ble'cker :)

Hmmm. It's my understanding that they'll be hanging in the same room. Not sure if they'll be on the same wall or not. The lighting is obviously different in the two of them, and their original settings (within the painting) are from two different rooms. We made a conscious decision to work with compositions that were best for each of them individually. Their canvases are the same size, but she's horizontal and he's vertical... so they don't work like a diptich (spelling?). I believe the intent is that one day each of the kids will get their own portrait.

Are you sure you wanted to say Terrific? How Awful!!
 

:exclamati You know Jimmie,

You should maybe choose your wording more carefully.. My Oxford Univeral Dictionary, of half a century ago, may not be quite up to date, but.....

Terrific ,a. 1667 1. Causing terror, terrifying; fitted to terrify; dreadful, terrible, frightful. 2. Applied intensively to anything severe or excessive. colloq 1809. :thumbsdow

On the other hand you might have considered the word awful. After all it is about the same as "awesome".

Awful, a. OE. 2. Worthy of, or commanding, profound respect or reverential fear OE. 3. Solemnly impressive; sublimely majestic 1660. 6. Profoundly respectful or reverential 1593. :thumbsup:

By the way, wording King Charles II might have chosen to express his opinion of the newly rebuilt St. Pauls Cathedral, in the aftermath of the Great Fire of London in 1666, might well have included 'Awful", and "Artificial"! In the context of his day, there could have been no higher compliment than those words of praise.

Something to consider next time you compliment someone here at the Forum!

Terri, I think you have painted an awfully fine pair of portraits. What more can I say? You are way more than terrific!


Garth

Congratulations Terri! This one is as wonderful as the sisters.

Kim, Thanks!
Hmmm Garth, already knew I was stuck with an awfully (difficult) name -- but did you have to rub it in? ;)

Edges
 

Terri, those edges are great. The skin tones are delicate and rich too. I like!

We once lived on "The Rim" in AZ. There are 700 foot cliff that rises up to a huge plateau. We would drive up to a special spot on the plateau go to the cliff's edge and throw out huge pine cones like you painted. They weighed half as much as a baseball. The updraft from the warm valley was tremendous. This rising current was just strong enough to offset the weight of the huge pine cones and they would hover for minutes spinning almost stationary out there. Then, without warning, they would finally fly over our heads and then fall to earth as they escaped the updraft's power. It was very spiritual.

Anyway, You are really making lots of very good pieces & fast.

How cool Tim-- sounds like fun! Just wondering... did you discover that phenomena yourself, or is it something that the locals out there all know about?

Thanks for the compliments on my work! You know being able to produce faster was one of my goals when I came to your workshop. (It seems to have worked ;) )

Cone toss
 

Terri, we were just trying to throw them off the cliff and noted it. The perfect technique was to throw really hard at a perfect horizontal, they naturally would pick up a backspin. On those summer day's you could not throw one off the the edge. Matt Smith used to come up there with us. (He's got a weak throwing arm-throws like painter...)