Brandon and Kyra-taking shape

Brandon and Kyra

Now they're looking more and more like my sweet grandchildren!  I bet you don't know what's going to be in the background.  I'll give you a hint.  It's usually recognized as beautiful and very picturesque.  I know what that's going to be but I'm making choices on the clothes still.  I think Kyra looks pretty in the dark purple but I was thinking of something more 'little girl' looking like white with cherries and Brandon in red for his shirt or a red character of some sort-since red is his favorite color.  Hmmmmm.  Hard choice as I don't want to make this too busy and distracting from the main focal point-the faces.  

ROUGHLY BLOCKING IT IN

Brandon and Kyra

Notice the green in the skin?  If you look at your skin you'll see that there's a lot of green.  Generally that's the shadowed and veiny areas.  Brandon's mouth looks weird but that's how things look in this stage.  It didn't take me long to get this far tonight with the skin but it's funny how there are some areas that almost work.  

At this point I'm making choices about the fabric.  Part of me wants to do solid colors to not distract from the composition-the focal point (faces) but the other side of me says, "Boring!"  I think I know what I'm going to do.  They're kids!  They'd naturally be wearing something fun.  So that's what I'm going to do.

MERRILY I PAINT A LONG!

Brandon and Kyra

So, does Brandon have red hair?  No way.  You'll get to see what's what soon.  I have a plan, like usual, and it takes a while to get things going.  This is just the underpainting.  When I layer the other colors on top I'll leave little peeks of this and that will unify this painting in a way that the casual observer wouldn't notice.  I like to be tricky, you see.

The biggest thing I like about this composition is the way your eye is centered on the most important part-the children's faces.  Neither one is the star because they both are.  My art teacher, Robert Rumel, told me years ago that showing a child's little hands adds so much to a painting.  There's something about them that is so special.  These are 2 little cousins that live on opposite ends of the country and it's rare for them to be together.  So this makes this closeness that they show even more tender.  

The background is going to come about soon and it's going to be very fun!

BRANDON AND KYRA: Okay, I redrew it again......now I'm really starting it

Brandon and Kyra

Well, I know I'm being ridiculously picky but I just didn't feel right about what I had done so far.  I knew I would always look at this painting and think that something just wasn't quite right.  Anyway, now that I've got my rough sketch done I'm starting to get the basics in.

I've planned something fun for this.  I want it to say 'zoo' when it's looked at because that's where they are.  Anyone that knows me knows that I love bright colors.  So this is going to have that but I think I'm going to do a little different style than I normally do.  It's going to be fun!