Siblings

[Janel Maples]

Here is my latest. This is my first attempt at three people in one painting.

30 x 40 Oil on Linen

[Janel Maples]

Just a quick note:

When this came up on my monitor, it is a little dark and some of the reds in the faces look really red on my display. They are not like that in the painting when viewed in person.

[Kimberly Dow]

Janel, way to go with a pleasing composition. Three can be tricky - I think it looks great. There is a definite family resemblance!

[Alexandra Tyng]

Janel, what a challenging composition, and you have pulled it off nicely. As Kim says, you really can see the family resemblence! Can you tell us more about the design process that led you to this particular arrangement? And I am curious, are the brothers twins? Older and younger? Did they have problems with which one should be sitting or standing? Just curious because these issues are so much a part of my thought process when I'm thinking of a composition.

[Janel Maples]

Thank you Kim and Alexandra.

The brothers are not twins. The one in the back is the oldest but not by much. Their sister is the youngest.

I moved them (and the light source) from my original plan so they really didn't have a say in who stood or sat. And, they didn't have a problem with it either. The sister and her oldest brother are very, very tall so I had to juggle their placement. The seated brother showed up with a tan (golf pro from South Carolina) and the other two were white snow birds. The photo was taken on Dec. 23 on their way from the airport to a family Christmas function (this is a surprise for their mother) so putting the tan brother
closest to the light source evened out their skin color a little better. They were extremely patient with me while I worked them around and tried different compositions. This one was by far my favorite. It just looked......comfortable and right. I'm pleased you like it.

I tried to change my photo in my first post but the color and the contrast still looks off to me on my monitor.

[Terri Ficenec]

Hi Janel!
--'course I'm not looking at the original, but the color/contrast etc. looks good on my monitor. (That is to say the fleshtones read well )

You didn't say how big this is? Anyhow, Nicely done! You've captured a notable family resemblance and a sense of unique personality for each. The sister looks like a live wire! I'm sure the Mom will be (was?) thrilled. Congrats!

[Janel Maples]

Thank you Terri, I really appreciate it.

I am sorry, it is 30" x 40" Oil on Linen. The faces are slightly smaller than life size.
Mom hasn't seen it yet, all of the children will be home for the 4th of July and they will be hanging up then. They are going to wait for her to run into it.

She has been bugging her husband for one of these for some time now and he kept putting her off. With the children scattered all over the US it is difficult to get them together so this will be a huge surprise as I only had 30 minutes to do the photo session before their party. I'll report how it has been received after the 4th.

Thanks again for the compliment. It means a lot.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Hi Janel,

Wow, what a challenge this must have been. I especially like how the sister turned out. Their mom will surely be very pleased!

[Janel Maples]

Hello Enzie,

I have an apology to make I am so sorry that I haven't replied to your post. After I finished this painting I had to frantically work on a reclining nude for a show coming up next month (Reclining nude can be seen in the nude unveiling section)

Thank you for the compliment. The painting was delivered and the mother was very pleased. Unfortunately, the seated brother (who lives in South Carolina) showed up for the Fourth of July get together (his first time home since Christmas) 30 pounds lighter.

Can you believe he never thought to mention it to me?

Oh well, he went back home and hopefully his parents remember him most at this weight.

What luck!