Jane and Vic

I generally paint my portraits from photographs. Often these are black and white and I use whatever colors strike my fancy to communicate the highlights and darks of the person's skin tones. Since most of my subjects are long deceased, I don't get complaints. Painting people who are alive presents a challenge, because I want to capture their likeness, in case they actually see the painting. Painting people I know means that they definitely will. Painting people that I love means that I am trying to capture that part of them that I know, that part that cannot be seen. I have tried with Aunt Jane and Uncle Vic. They are both so special to our family and they both have a sparkle that is difficult to capture in oil paint. Their loving, caring personalities shine through. I hope I have done them justice. I still feel like it needs some tweaking. This is painted from a photograph taken of them from our deck on Thanksgiving 2014.