Changing the facts?

Mary Sparrow · 02-14-2004, 09:50 AM

I'm wanting to paint a portrait of my three children, however, I am not sure how to handle it.

Marc is 5.5, Turner is 4 and Liza is 1. Besides the obvious issues of figuring out a good composition, not to mention actually getting them to cooperate, I have another unusual issue.

Marc was adopted from Romania, my other two are biological children. Marc is VERY slight in build, whereas the two younger children inherited our large builds. While all of them are proportionate for their heights, my biolgical children are blatantly larger than Marc. Even the baby's head seems larger than Marc's. (Marc is expected to grow to about 5'6" while Turner is expected to reach 6'5"!)

I'm afraid that to paint them as they are, Marc's slight build would have attention placed on him. My husband worries that might make him self conscious. What do you think? Do I just fudge the facts a bit and paint him a little more to scale with the other two or not? Or would just coming up with the right composition take care of this? I want this to be a casual portrait with the three of them interacting in some way. Any suggestions on how to approach this sensitive issue?

Kimberly Dow · 02-14-2004, 01:17 PM

My first reaction as a mother is to play down the size difference. Perhaps have a set-up where he is actually closer to the camera so that he is larger on the canvas? That may be unusual, but it could solve this problem. Of course it may make him seem more important in the painting.

Just my rambling thoughts on this. I want to see what others say also.

Michele Rushworth · 02-14-2004, 10:48 PM

My kids were adopted from China. If I were to paint a portrait of my husband (who is Caucasian), with myself and the kids I wouldn't change anything to make us look more alike.

My vote goes for painting your kids exactly as they are.

Mary Sparrow · 02-14-2004, 11:00 PM

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to change him, but he comments all the time that he is smaller than his younger brother. It apparently bothers him, and I would like to figure out a way that depicts them as they are, without it jumping out off the canvas that he is so tiny. Maybe Kim's suggestion of putting him in the forefront would be the solution. My concern is really more for his little ego than my worry that he doesn't look like the other two.

On another note, China! We came SO close to going China. I was dead set on getting a girl, but Marc's little face stole my heart and I ended up in Romania. Three days after I accepted Marc's referral I found out I was pregnant! I was six mos pregnant when we traveled to get him. WHAT an adventure. Wish I could afford to go get more!

Michele Rushworth · 02-15-2004, 04:41 AM

I do like Kim's suggestion of placing him in front. He wouldn't have to be that far in front of the others to make a difference in proportion that would minimize his small size, while not actually changing the facts.

And yes, China was an adventure too!

Mary Reilly · 02-16-2004, 12:27 AM

I agree to place Marc in the forground. Also the way each of their bodies are positioned can make a difference. Perhaps if Turner's body is shown from more of a side view that could diminish his size while Marc could be straight on. Also the color and pattern of their clothes can help with the illusion of size a little better. All those little nuances added together could make a difference in helping to equal things out without having to actually change anyone. Even how the light is placed can help.

Make sure you post what you come up with. I will love to see the end result.

Mary

Joan Breckwoldt · 05-25-2004, 09:59 AM

Hi Mary,

I'm sorry that I found this thread so late. I wasn't on the forum for a while for personal reasons but I'm back now.

How is this portrait coming? I did a search for posts by you and didn't find a finished portrait of your three children so I was just wondering how it was going, and I had an idea for you.

I have a friend who had her four children painted. She had a portrait artist come down from Dallas (we're in Houston) and I wish I knew who is was, I'll have to ask her. Well, she had each child done on a separate canvas. Her kids range in ages from 5 to17 and the 5 year old's full figure was painted. The other three were 3/4 or even less. Each was done on the same size canvas, tall and skinny, about 30" tall by 15" wide. She had them all on her mantle last time I saw them, not even framed, but they were done on heavy stretchers or museum canvas, whatever they call it when the stretchers are thick.

I thought it was an interesting idea because they all worked well together yet each child had his or her own canvas. And of course you could do whatever was most characteristic of each child without worrying about how one child relates to the other (in size anyway).

These portraits I'm talking about were oil and I think you work mostly in pastel. I don't see why it couldn't work for pastel too. I'm sure you've thought about doing 3 separate portraits but I just wanted to share this idea.

Now I'm going back to read some of your other interesting topic starters!

Joan

Mary Sparrow · 05-26-2004, 07:27 AM

Hi Joan,

No, I never got around to doing this. I tried to get some pictures one afternoon but no one wanted to cooperate. I then got busy with other work. I still plan to do this, they all have at least 3 individual portraits of themselves and I am sure they will have many more !

Joan Breckwoldt · 05-26-2004, 01:59 PM

Hi Mary,

I look forward to seeing your portrait when it does get done. It sounds like you have your heart set on painting all three children in the same painting. Maybe they could all be staggered on a staircase? I have two children and I would love to paint them both in the same portrait too but it is a challenge. So far I'm painting them one at a time.

That would make a good threat, 'the multiple portrait'. Some basic tips, thoughts about relative size. I find when I take photos of my kids together unless they are almost exactly on the same plane, the closer one's head always looks huge! I'll do a search, there may already be something on this. First, though, for me, I need to learn how to do a good 'single' portrait!

Joan

Michele Rushworth · 05-26-2004, 02:25 PM

Quote:

...when I take photos of my kids together, unless they are almost exactly on the same plane, the closer one's head always looks huge!

You'll find that standing well back with your camera and zooming in will help avoid this problem.