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Christie, Chris, Alex, thank you for your thorough examination.
I can see each one of your points. (Alex yes the paintings are the same size).
In fact when I first saw the dresses I found them really lovely and I didn't think about how complicate it is to have bare arms in a portrait.
Both postures are slightly awkward, I prefer them to relaxed poses, but I put myself in further trouble ! Especially in the letter painting I wanted to have a very open stance, so her right shoulder is coming forward almost in an unnatural way.
I had a look at Sargent's arms, which are ever so graceful. I tried to make up for the lack of anatomical information ( very few sittings available) by putting down the most beautiful pinks and grays I could mix.
I am very aware that I need to go paint some arms at the open studio ( or choose clothes with sleeves)!
Alex, I should have taken a photo of the paintings together. What connects them for me is really the intensity of the colors: the orange in the fruit painting ( it is a yellow wall ) came about just after the blue of the envelope.
At the beginning I had set out to paint very pale pictures, both green pink harmonies and cool skin tones, but going on I felt the girls needed more life, more childhood hues. The manilla envelope turned blue, and the fruit appeared ( I had pale hydrangeas before ). The stronger colors are very similar in tone and chroma and each of them just called on the next one.
This is the first time that in commissioned work I made so many changes during the painting. I do that a lot in still life, moving objects around and adding or removing them, but until now I was more afraid of letting go of ideas I no longer thought were right in portraits.
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