Portrait Of A Little Boy: Grant No. 2

This week I am attending the annual Portrait Society of America Conference near Washington D.C. It's a time to gather with hundreds of like minded portrait artists, nationally and internationally, to listen, learn and be inspired. I'm loving every minute of it. Tomorrow will be another full day, but before this day ends, I want to share another portrait that I completed before I left my studio.

I was asked to paint little Grant's portrait twice. Every painting presents new challenges regardless of who the subject is or how many times I have painted him. I enjoy it all.

Grant
20 x 16, Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c) 2014

Stage 1: Sketching the figure with a thin wash of Burnt Umber and mineral spirits.

Stage 2: Painting his face.

Stage 3: Painting the shirt. Grant's blue shirt was striped but before I could add that detail, I blocked in the solid blue as well as the blue underpainting of his pants and his mother's skirt.

...and then added the stripes in a lighter blue value.

Stage 4: Painting his hands. One of the endearing aspects to this composition is Grant's hand holding on to his mother's. This creates a connection that speaks of love and trust between a mother and son. The mother then becomes part of the story in this painting by the gentle presence of her hand.

Stage 4 continued: I blocked in Grant's hand that was linked to his mother's.

Stage 5: Completing the hands.

Stage 6: Blocking in the background with solid shapes of color.

Stage 7: Completing the background.