Day Three Painting

Blocking in the composition, I've dropped down the background a little more to accentuate the figures in the foreground, allowing me to eliminate some of those darker areas and bring in bright spots of color and light.
Working the entire canvas, the figures begin to take a little more form too as I start to define their position in the painting.
Much of the paint at this point is still thinly layered, as certain changes and redefinitions are still being worked out and considered. At this stage, "erasing" is still fairly easy with a turpentine soaked rag, which I use to raise the arm of the little boy and reposition the girl's face a bit more.
I like to slowly build my paintings, making all my alterations in the earliest stages and waiting until I'm completely satisfied with the basics before moving on to heavier layers of paint.

Day One: Painting from Photo

On a 18"X24" stretched linen, I quickly lay out the painting's composition, off-centering the three figures just slightly to the left so that I may include both hands of the older boy as well as the background garden I envision in the finished piece. I am not too concerned with precise details at this stage, but am maintaining a certain accuracy to the photo, dropping the background some for enhancement.
By the end of my painting day, I have finished the intial sketch and blocked in a wash of color. At this stage I can really start to visualize where I must take this painting to reach it's completion.

Portrait Painting From Photo

When painting a portrait, I prefer combining live posing sessions along with photos I can refer to without the presence of the sitter. However, some portrait commissions must rely on a single photograph a client has chosen to be replicated into a portrait painting. More often than not, the photo I receive has been taken with a flash camera, virtually flattening the image and losing much needed detail when composed onto a much larger scale. This offers a number of challenges in which artistic licence must be taken to enhance, alter, and add to what will eventually become the finished portrait.
Follow my process as I post images of this paintings developement.

Hit the Painting From A Photo link to bring up the different days of painting I've added to my blog.
Any comments are welcome and appreciated.