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Linda Nelson · 01-03-2003, 01:34 AM

Lighting conflicts were my personal frustration with this painting. The daughters' faces were painted from existing snapshots (they're off at college), so I had no control over the overall angle or the subjects' original lighting. I could take an actual posed shot of the mother. However, then the problem is, do I paint her with natural backlight, or actually put the front lighting so she's lit as her daughters are. I have to give the impression the lighting is coming from a backlit sun, as that's how the statue is lit. AAAAARGH!

Thankfully I saw the mother in person, as she was not at all photogenic nor looked like herself in photos, and so a lot of the painting of her face was from memory.

01-03-2003, 01:34 AM	#4
Linda Nelson Juried Member Joined: Sep 2001 Location: St. Paul, MN Posts: 386	Thanks Michele Lighting conflicts were my personal frustration with this painting. The daughters' faces were painted from existing snapshots (they're off at college), so I had no control over the overall angle or the subjects' original lighting. I could take an actual posed shot of the mother. However, then the problem is, do I paint her with natural backlight, or actually put the front lighting so she's lit as her daughters are. I have to give the impression the lighting is coming from a backlit sun, as that's how the statue is lit. AAAAARGH! Thankfully I saw the mother in person, as she was not at all photogenic nor looked like herself in photos, and so a lot of the painting of her face was from memory.