Second of three brothers
 

Just finished this one, he is the younger brother to the boy with the Corgi that I did a few years back. There is a third brother that I will be painting this summer -- so all three boys will have been painted at the same age... This is 30x24, oil on linen panel

Note: There are clearer images of this painting here.

Terri, this so beautifully painted. The family is so fortunate to have chosen you to paint their kids.

David

Thanks David!

It's an interesting challenge -- to make separate paintings a few years apart that reflect the different personalities of the boys -- but are consistent in size/scale/style and able to hang together harmoniously. Kurt posed for me at their family's summer home at a lake (the beach is just below that rock wall he's sitting on) whereas Brian was on the side porch of different home -- but I liked that both scenes had potted flowers and stone walls as common elements... Not sure what setting we'll find for the youngest boy, though they've already requested that the family cat be included, so 2 of the three will have pets in common. . . if we can get the cat to cooperate! :sunnysmil

And I should say that I am very lucky to have them as clients! ;)

Beautiful, Terri! His skin looks so real, and I like the way you painted his glasses. It's interesting to compare this portrait with the one of his brother.

This is so well done, Terri! The softness of the skin next to the texture and color of the hair is great.

Truly Successful
 

Just beautiful, Terri. This is a truly successful portrait! Bravo!

Alex, Julie -- thank you both for your comments! :)

The goose is one of a set of several (iron?) statuettes that were arranged along that rock wall framing the beach. . .

Carol, hi -- Thanks!

Terri,

What a beautiful painting of the other brother. These kids are very fortunate to each have such beautiful portraits of themselves painted by you. Lovely work!

Terri the painting turned out lovely. These brothers are very fortunate to own such lovely paintings created by you. Beautiful work!

Wonderful work, Terri! A perfect companion piece to the brother which was also a fine piece of work.

The goose plays its role perfectly!

Enzie-- thanks so much!
Carlos, I'm glad you like the goose... besides it's significance as to where this was for the family, I thought it made a nice little stopper, directing attention back to Kurt's face. :sunnysmil

Great job, Terri!
I am impressed how you can paint this younger brother's portrait so consistent with his elder brother's portrait, it's different and familiar, just like two brothers.

Very nice, Terri!

Thanks Allan and Patty!

*note: photos at beginning of thread have been updated... for shots taken with better lighting.

Wow Terri! I had to keep checking, this is a painting? It's so perfect, and it's wonderful. The client is very lucky to have you as their artist!

Garth

Thanks Garth -- you made my day!

But, in real life it's clear that it's paint. . . ;)

Terri--

Well done....strong design, too!

What a wonderful portrait! I like what you did with the surroundings too, no sky but the grass hill.

Terri,

This is wonderful, so beautifully laid out and painted. I love the touch of whimsy the goose adds. :)

Christy

Thanks Tom, Bianca & Christy! :D

Hi Alex--

Since glasses can be tricky (at least for me!) to paint, thought it might be helpful to share how they came to be painted this way...

At the first reference photo session, I took photos with & without glasses. Especially since the glasses made his eyes appear much smaller than they actually are, my intent was to paint how his face looks without the glasses, but add the glasses in over his face. (He always wears them).So I took shots of him with the glasses on and his face/head in various orientations.

Luckily we managed to get a nice shot of his face w/out glasses (top left) AND a shot in a very similar position with the glasses on (bottom left). So I cropped out the glasses and their shadow and added them as a layer (in paint shop pro) over is face (bottom right)... even though the two original photos look similar, when you layer them like this, it's obvious that the glasses photo shadows (at least) are much too dark for the photo of his face, AND that the glasses obscure the true shape/size of his eyes.

So final step in getting a workable reference was to cut out the eyes from the glasses 'layer' so that we could see his real eyes. AND since I wanted the glasses to be there but not attract a lot of attention, I also reduced the 'opacity' of the glasses layer to 50%, softening both the glasses and their shadow. The final altered reference is at the top right below -- Note that in the painting I wound up softening that shadow from the glasses even more.

Wow, that is a great tip. It is amazing how the thickness of those glasses in the original photo changes not just the size but the color of the eyes. The painting would have had such a different feel if you had painted it as-is

Thanks for sharing such a good trick, I will remember it.

Excellent painting, Terri, and I admire your mad photoshop skillz. :sunnysmil