70th Birthday gift - Acrylic on canvas 90.0 cm x 60.0 cm - April 2022
After 15 days and approximately 100 hours of painting, over a 9-month period, my latest portrait painting is complete. Taken from a photograph I took during my son Sebastian’s 1st Birthday party, in the garden at Hope Cottage, Great Shelford, Cambridge. I instantly loved the picture as a photograph in it’s own right, and thought it would have the potential for an interesting painting.
His Granny & Grandpa are on either side of Sebastian - and most importantly, it told a story of the day, featuring three generations of the family - given that I took the photograph and painted the portrait! I also liked the movement in the composition, particularly with Seb’s arms moving upwards which accented his youth exuberance alongside the calm and nurturing nature of his grandparents. The rule of thirds composition is evident in the picture if you split it into sections - with Sebastion in the centre of the picture and his hands in the upper third.
I had a few concerns with the picture, it did feel a little cramped, but on the flip side of this, it also helped it feel more intimate. There were possibly too many hands featured, but I also liked the juxtaposition between the size of Grandpa’s hands and Sebastian’s hands - being so large and small side my side. The bright green plants in the background of the picture anchored the composition, evoking a feeling of life and abundance and the green complemented the pale pink of Granny’s top.
In hindsight, I underestimated the difficulty of the painting being a triple portrait with a photographic perspective to it, particularly towards the top left and right edges of the composition and it was much more detailed than I originally planned. I managed to finish the painting of the faces and hands after the first 9 days, by which stage it was mid-September 2021. I did all of the painting outside and as the days were getting shorter I decided to stop pause the painting - not restarting until April 2022 when the days were longer and the improved natural daylight returned. All of these factors contributed to the painting taking so long to complete.
