Harrison and Gabrielle

[Vianna Szabo]

I just finished this commission of Harrison and Gabrielle. The painting is done in pastel and is 23" x 21". I photographed the kids separately using evening light. The reason I had to shoot the photos separately is because I made the unfortunate mistake of posing the girl by a bumblebee nest in the ground, I was only able to get a few shots of her before she got stung. I felt very lucky to get two shots that worked well together. The background I pretty much made up. I wanted it to be a design element that balanced the strong vertical of the figures. I enjoyed doing this painting and learned an important lesson about checking the proximity of stinging insect nests before the photography shoot.

Vianna Szabo

[Mary Sparrow]

This is beautiful. I would love to see an even closer shot of one of the faces if you could post one!

[Vianna Szabo]

Thank you very much Mary. Here are the close ups. The little girl was a particular challenge because she has a beautiful natural pout. Her mother felt she looked sad so I had to change the expression slightly. The mother wanted more of a smile so this was our compromise.

Vianna

[Kimberly Dow]

This is soft and lovely.

[Mike Dodson]

Vianna,

Nicely done! Great lighting and handling of the colors.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Vianna, that's really lovely. The children work well together, too, and I especially like the background. I may try something similar for a portrait I'm working on now from an old photo.

[Vianna Szabo]

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

Vianna