Anna and Anthony
 

Well, this is the other one I was trying to finish up before Thanksgiving.

There are a few things I might change on here, given the opportunity, but the client says "Don't touch it!" - so here it is...

Anna and Anthony
20 x 24
Acrylic on Canvas

Here's Anna, detail:

and Anthony:

Terri,

I really like this - especially the expression on the girl's face. Great job capturing their personalities!

I'm sure you've heard this enough times now, but I can't believe what you're able to do with acrylics - amazing.

Beautiful painting :)

Great job!

Is this the same children in the other one? If not then they certainly look a lot alike! Nice job on the eyes.

It is amazing what you can do with acrylics - but as everyone has told you - if you can do this with those, just imagine what you could do with oils!

Actually, I guess they don't look alike, just close to the same ages.

Great looking kids you have gotten to paint so far, aren't you lucky?

Stacey, Kim - Thanks!

Yes, I've been very lucky to have very attractive children to paint so far! The two families actually live in the same neighborhood as each other, and the children are close in age. Both of these portraits were commissioned by the children's mothers as surprise Christmas presents for their husbands. I have to assume that one got the idea from the other. Apparently there are some others in that neighborhood who have also expressed interest in portraits... so hopefully these will be a hit!

I didn't accept any additional commissions for delivery before Christmas because I wasn't sure how long it would take me to finish these two. So now that they are pretty much wrapped up, I'll be using the time between now and New Year's to try oils. I may be posting the results -- if they are not, well, too dismal! :o

Thanks again!

Terri, it's fun to see the finished portrait after visiting your site where the underpainting was posted. This is lovely and I suspect that you'll have a lot more portraits from your neighbors and others who see this work. I'll be interested in seeing how you take to oils, but your acrylics are so good that if oils don't come easily I wouldn't force it. You do a great job with shading, in material as well as skin.

Thanks Leslie!

I've been having a lot of fun working on these! :) I tried a burnt umber underpainting on these last two. If I stay with the acrylics, I'll probably go back to the blue, I think it gave the overlying flesh tones more life somehow - even though it looks a little bizarre until it's painted over!

I always use blue myself, for the blocking-in stages; I think it does nice things for the flesh tones and suggests the blue undertones of the skin.