Finally

So after many times of claiming that this painting was finished, I think this time it actually is. For the first time I am truly happy with the result. I have glazed and re-glazed, added color and taken away color, changed that thickness of the black lines numerous time and now finally I just took the palette knife to it and added some extreme highlights. I can honestly say that I have never worked on a painting for this long before. I believe that the child on the couch, although very small in the large room, has finally become the focal point of the painting.

Work in Progress - Welcome Home Mom

This painting has brought up some very interesting challenges, mostly because of its size. It is 4'x6' and oil on un-stretched canvas. It is meant to be the view up the stairs and into the entry of my house. In this scene, again based on reality, on of my children has decided to greet me by throwing many of her toys down the stairs. Because I wanted this painting to be as large as it is, wood panel did not seem like the best option. Even with canvas I am unable to have the painting vertical in my studio. Currently I have the canvas stapled to the wood floor  so that I have the hard background that I prefer to work on underneath the canvas. The large size is also making this painting very different to photograph, especially in its current position.

 





Completed Work

Both of these paintings were completed using the same process. I have just recently put what I believe to be the final layer of glaze onto each of these originally black and white paintings. While the first painting is meant to show one the chaotic moments that I have personally experienced from being a parent, the second image is meant to be more about one of the rare calm moments when the child is sleeping. 

Oil on panel
4'x4'

















Oil on panel 2'x3'