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Portrait almost completed
Oil on board. 137.8x91.4cm (54"x36")
Well this has been a long time in process - but almost there. These are my four children who I hadn't had all together with me in five years. They immediately resumed their roles at the table as they had interacted as teens. I know several things I wish to do to complete it (eg, fine tuning the balance on faces, left hand side of dark jacket lost edge, hair, one shirt needs more work, highlights and other tidy up). But often things are staring you in the face and require someone else to point them out - so deeply appreciate any input. If something doesn't look right or needs tightening up I really want to know.
Title? There is a lot of memory for me at this table. The tiny rocking horse is a model I made years ago of the real rocking horse I built that they all used. These are only my 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th portraits - difficult to balance them, particularly in the lighting. Clearly my children are the motivation for this, but I also wanted to capture that instant when an abstract thought is apprehended by someone. It's a very subtle thing and in preparation for the photoshoot I studied body language and listened to actors to try to identify that moment. All human society and accomplishment is built on that transfer of thought. (It also creates a wonderful irony of painting an abstraction with modern realism.) Then I also wanted an excuse to paint all the things that as a child made me stare at paintings in wonder and long to be able to do - glass, metal, flame, faces, dimensionality, chiaroscuro-style paintings... I was playing with titles like: Abstraction: past and future. or Transference of thought or Visual thought. My wife describes these attempts as a 'bit cold'. 
That title is more for an art show to touch the universal in what is a very personal portrayal. Maybe.
That title is more for an art show to touch the universal in what is a very personal portrayal. Maybe.
On zooming in: This is not a single photo - I can't photograph it with my DSLR or phone
and get detail - it comes out cartoonish. So it's a composite of six
photos (photomerged in photoshop) and I also had trouble with bluish
light from windows hitting dark spots (eg, across the plinths, an arm).
To give higher resolution on the faces I took close ups and inserted
them into this photo - you might see where I pasted them. If you want high-res of any section I can post that.
Comments
Each sibling is very recognisable and you have handled all the bits you included very well. (cloth, glass, brass, flame etc...
Just 2 things I would look at again if it were mine....
The nose of the youngest ?) on the left looks a bit flat and arrow like.
The tendons on the back of the neck of the brother on our right look a bit contrived and unnatural.
I like the idea of someone holding the lemon. That works really well and brings a relaxed and believable element to it.
Now you will have to do 3 more so each can have a family heirloom...!
I like all the items on the table. The fruits especially. And I like your reflection in the gold colored decanter.
Nice work!
You could adjust the couple of things others have mentioned but I really didn't notice them. Overall, there is a feeling of happiness, of relaxed contentment. It's a heartwarming family portrait.
I think you can be justly proud of this. I'm sure it will be treasured by the family and be handed down through future generations.
As for a title, I think I agree with your wife. I'd keep it simple and call it something like A Family Supper. That says it all.
Have you put the original photos and your painting in B&W to compare the values? I find it helps me isolate where I need more or less contrast.
If I may ask, how did you get the drawing so damn accurate?
I am deeply impressed.
Just one note about the colours. Looks like the skin tones are a bit cool compared to the reference which is warm. Could that be the white balance of the camera or just how it was painted?
Again excellent work!
This is an ambitious painting as GTO has pointed out.
I have problems with the piece as a whole.
I don't have criticism of the painting process. It's skilled.
My friend Ianni used to say that a painting had to be unified. I came to understand that meant that the abstracts had to blend to create a unified image or story. The abstracts, negative and positive shapes, are the points of interest or focus. I feel this painting is very unified challenged.
Nearly every object has the same attention to detail. The figures are each isolated and seem to have separate light sources. The rightmost figure also has an isolated light source on the face along with a rim light on the figure. I find the column bases each treated the same as very out of space.
There's too much going on. Is it a still life? A classical scene. Troumpe L'oell?, Portraits?
When we look at art history especially expansive paintings like this one most of the time there were studies done to resolve all the bits and pieces. Drawings of every component and how all the shapes a values interact. Resolving the issues of light. After alll what we paint is light. Before the paint hits the palette.
I did a crop of your painting. I know it's a bit late for that but I simply eliminated some spaces and directional keys. The figure are now united. Somehow I feel you saw this in the beginning.
@Abstraction – well, I am mainly in awe!
Congratulations on both creating this painting and figuring out the many technical challenges, both compositionally and physically constructing the painting. Your decades of problem-solving in different areas really came out in your approach.
Even though I disagreed with you at first about the objects on the table - I thought they were cluttered and distracting - now that I see the finished painting, I think they are fine and work well to help guide the eye from the foreground to the main event: the four figures.
I hope you don’t mind an unsolicited comment: The son on the left: he seems to me to be isolated from the others. He is physically distanced, he does not touch or overlap with any of the others, he is portrayed mainly in the shadows, he has the darkest clothing covering most of his flesh, he appears physically thin. I know that you deliberately planned the transition of the clothing from left to right from dark and uncolored to lighter and colored (blue). But I personally think it would be better if you gave a little stronger hint of blue in his clothing somewhere. It would help link him to the other figures.
Very nice blue unifies the composition 😊
I hope you share more thoughts and observations on the design and composition of this. I have learned so much from you.
Do you have any idea of how many hours you have in on this?
I agree with @toujours that you will have to make more paintings to give to each of the children – and keep one for yourself.
I can see other things different with the face on the right, but don't want to overwhelm you with all these comments. If you do want me to point more out please let me know..
Showed it to my painter daughter a couple of days ago, and she regarded it as being stunningly impressive. Her mother described it as 'awesome'. I'm happy to endorse both of those comments.
Have read carefully all comments above, and find the technical discussions interesting and informative. Nonetheless, the depth of backstory in your opening post, together with the persons and items depicted, suggests clearly this painting is deeply personal to you. So I'm inclined to suggest you simply follow your own nose regards any adjustments you might choose to make.
What I like most particularly about it (apart from all of it) is the way you have decided the placement, expressions, and gestures associated with the figures. It is clear you have put a huge amount of thought and work into the picture, and I'll bet your children love it.
With kind rgds, Duncan
In addition to creating this marvelous image, you also learned much in the process. Thank you for sharing what you learned with us. I regularly re-examined my own thinking and assumptions, based on what you shared.
...What do you think your next project will be?
The only point I'd wish to add to that is Richard's mention of the 'white teeth' – in his fourth graphic (as immediately above). It's important perhaps to see these things in proportion, if not in perspective, but comparative values do matter nonetheless. As does balance. My own teeth are (passably) white, but unfortunately, there are so few of them these days that those that remain might dominate—or distract—unfairly a family portrait. But I'm old, and I suspect that @Abstraction's objective was more to mark and celebrate the passage of his children into adulthood.
@Richard_P, if you would care to PM me with a postal address, I'll very happily send you a spare tooth. I have several and I've kept them all—apart from those that were swallowed, of course—but those that remain available are now no longer very personal to me. Had been saving them with the intention of having them strung as a necklace to leave to my wife so she has a deeply personal memento to treasure (and reflect on) after I'm finally gone.
Kindest rgds to all, Duncan