A surprise Christmas commission of two lovely brothers and their beloved Doherty. I went to photograph this lovely group together in their garden. I’ve used a mixture of a couple of the photographs to get the best composition and personality of each individual. The main thing I wanted to come across in the portrait was how comfortable they were together and how much they clearly loved Doherty (and how much Doherty loved them too!) I thought that in this shot of Doherty he was like their Sentinel posted in between.
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| The finished painting 20″x16″ pastel on velour. I blurred the background so that they would all stand out crisply in the foreground. |
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| The two photos used in the composition. |
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| My sketch transferred onto the velour I’ve started to block in the background. |
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| Keeping the background loose |
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| As the faces are mostly in shadow the highlights will be kept to a minimum and the main highlight colours in shadow will be cooler tones. |
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| Pale lilacs make the cool side’s highlights while Unison Grey 27 which is a yellowy light creates the sunlit areas and highlights. |
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| I love an excuse to use Unison BV 12 which is such a vibrant blue. |
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| Working dark to light for Doherty’s coat. |
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| Highlight colours include Grey 27 as well as a red and a range of blues |
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| I like Faber Castel Pitt pastel pencils for very small details. |
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| Showing the lower layer of cool tones. |
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| After I had completed the portrait I noticed extra tweaks on William’s face. These I addressed later. They included more work around his eyes and mouth which altered his expression slightly. |
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| All finished and in their frame. Beautifully framed at Art & Home Holywood with a double mount and spacers. |
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| A close up of Ted |
This is fabulous, and I really love the end result.
Thanks Marian, really appreciate you visiting the blog and commenting. I keep adding to it so it's great to know people come and look! 🙂