daily painting practice 114 - portrait progress

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Remember this? Back in August I started a portrait of my daughter and son-in law. I have posted progress steps along the way. Now I am 13 days away from having to deliver it as a gift to his parents. I admit I am feeling just a teeny bit of pressure. I thought I would post all the steps again in one place and bring you up to date.




This pose looked too stiff and did not reflect the soft intimacy they share as a young couple.
So I changed the way he was holding her arm. This brought a new set of problems however. At this point I really thought about starting over.
Her hand was too large and his too high on her arm.

click on the picture to enlarge the image

Portrait In Progress
36"x36"
oil on canvas

Here is where I am as of this morning. I painted more with them sitting in front of me to get the flesh tones and colors correct. I have corrected her hands but still need to work a little on his. She has a few hard edges that need to soften or fade to shadow and I will finish the detail in the scarf. As always, I am stuck on what to do with the back ground.... this always haunts me at this point. Wish me luck!