Daddy's little boy

Daddy's Little Boy

14" x 11" x 3/4"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

A sweet commission for my cousin. He wanted to have a painting done for his good friend who lost his son too soon. He sent me a photo that was his friend's favorite image and memory of the two of them together.

I painted this during class and it came together quickly. Originally I had a bit of a horizon and sky at the top of the painting. Kim, our instructor, suggested that maybe the composition would work better if the water just went all the way up to the top, so I changed it later. I think it does work better. Also-the color of the boy's shorts were very close to skin color and it looked like he was naked so I "oranged" them up a bit and I hope they do read as swim trunks now.

Below is a photo of my set up at the sketch stage. I didn't use the orange underpainting this time. Not sure why, I think I forgot to do it before sketching, but in a later post I'll talk about another reason that maybe it was better that I didn't.

This painting will be off to Florida as soon as it's dry. I bet they do a lot of this kind of fishing down there.

Stay warm everyone!