Family Portrait

Family Portrait

A trio of siblings approached me through etsy to create this piece for their father’s 70th birthday, and I was thrilled to work with the sunlit photo they sent me. I love painting sunlit figures! The fun colors in the central figure’s fair skin and hair and her bright outfit are my favorite part of this piece. Combining cool light purples with warm peaches is becoming my preferred way to paint skin tones in direct light. This color combination choice also helped to contrast the range of skin tones these cousins have. 

To help unify this painting with so many figures and points of interest, I simplified the background to another of my favorite color combinations-yellow green grass and light blue sky. I also tried to keep the brushwork and value pattern simple. Both the parents and I feel the painting came together very well, and I’m looking forward to painting more works with this aesthetic soon!