Great-Grandpa's Trombone

[Mike McCarty]

Very beautiful Terri. Having once tried my hand at a brass instrument I can really appreciate the time and effort that went into this. Very successful I think.

[Ngaire Winwood]

Well Done Terri! Its beautiful.

[Terri Ficenec]

Kim, Janel, Lisa, Cynthia, Mike, thanks so much! How nice to wake up to. . .

Lisa, about edges...? don't know that I've got any great secrets --guess I use a variety of strategies for them --including smudging with a finger (do that a lot!). I save my old brushes and use them for blending, and a thin layer of translucent color spanning a transition also helps to unify things. Probably it helps too that pretty much all of my favorite colors are transparent, with the exception of raw sienna (semi-transparent) and white(opaque).

Thanks again!

[Terri Ficenec]

Ngaire, thank you! (we must have been posting at the same time. . . )

[Garth Herrick]

Dear Terri,

You've blown us all away with your mastery once again (no pun intended). This is delightful; your subject has a magical expression that you've caught. I can't imagine your clients being anything but thrilled with your success. the intergeneational aspect of your portrait is touching, and the engraving is beautifully rendered on the trombone.

Garth

[Patricia Joyce]

Terri,
I am positively blown away by this painting. Each one is more and more wonderful. But this one is MAGIC!!! The boy's expression is precious and the trombone is BEAUTIFUL! I know you were concerned about painting it and it turned out so beautifully. My son is a professional trombonist and I am going to send it to him. He will really appreciate the image!!

You are going places, GIRL and I can say I knew you when!!

Pat

ps what people who don't play the trombone wouldn't notice is that you have even captured the slight swelling of the upper lip which most trombonist, even young ones have after they have been playing. Is it my imagination or did you notice this about his mouth when you were studying him.

[Lisa Ober]

Terri, thank you for answering that question. I really enjoy hearing the various techniques people use and I particularly like yours. I appreciate you sharing the information. Again, beautiful painting.

[Michele Rushworth]

Gorgeous, Terri. The trombone, especially, just pops off the canvas!

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Terri,

Very sensitive and nice.

[Terri Ficenec]

Garth, sure -- no pun intended! The intergenerational aspect is a big part of this piece. The boy's (out-of-town) grandmother contacted me via my website about how special this pose was to them... makes it more meaningful to me too.

Patti--how neat that your son plays professionally! Didn't even occur to me that the full upper lip is from the trombone playing... I did have him play for me to help him forget that he was having his picture taken... so that might be part of it, or it could just be the way his mouth is?

Lisa, thanks again!

Thanks Michele... The trombone was really fun to do... on the other hand, have had enough *****willows for awhile!

Enzie--thanks for saying so!