I've spent January working on a one off painting that's far from my usual subject matter. This is an intimate snapshot of family life that was commissioned for the man featured in the picture as a surprise birthday present.
I had in mind the soft colours and cosy feel of a Ladybird book while I was working on this picture and I think it's managed to capture the happy innocence of the moment.
This was somewhat
of a challenge for me because I've never painted anything like this before
and it is also quite small, just 40cm square. That's quite a lot of
detail to fit in a small space; the polar opposite of my seven foot
Princess Leia I painted just before Christmas!
There is also an interesting addition to this work - The lady who commissioned me, and is mother and wife to the two characters above, also modeled for me for my first ever exhibition 12 years ago! She appeared in a painting called 'All Or Nothing At All' as part of my Gentlemen Prefer Blondes series.
Here's the work as it is now. I think it's interesting that this painting shares a similar colour scheme to the new painting, and she is looking down just like her husband and son are in the new work. The two pieces really complement eachother.
As this work has also been bought alongside the commission I feel the need to do some retouching. You have to remember, I painted this when I was starting out and looking at it now I can see so many things I could paint better!
So this month will be the spent repainting elements of this older work, something I've never done before. I'll let you know how it goes, keep posted...
