Many years ago I came across this photo of my dad (center) just after coming home from his church mission. It's the late 1960s and he's with his mom and his grandma at a fruit stand in Provo, Utah. Everything about this photo captivated me, including the photographer who was my grandpa. As soon as I saw it I had this thought/impression that I was going to paint it some day. This was years before I became a regular painter. In 2023 I felt it was time to begin but I was stalled waiting for the right frame. Then at a DI (Utah chain of thrift stores) a beautiful old frame jumped out at me and I was ready to begin!
Here's the original photo:
Step one cut and prime a 24x30" board to fit the frame, use a projector to sketch onto the board, then trace over the pencil lines with a thinned acrylic paint.
Add in the missing feet and begin to fill in the colors.
Keep adding and refining.
More adding and refining.
Finally ready to put it in the frame.
Add a protective varnish coat then hang it in the (clearly unfinished) gallery wall!
Here it is today. This was truly a fun and rewarding process. It's probably my favorite painting out of all that I've done.