In Monet's Garden is the title of a painting I did for a client from an old faded and yellowed photo reference. I am a bit behind in posting all the paintings that were completed in 2013 and since the portrait of the "Little Sailor" is drying right now, I figured I better catch up and post one of the finished portraits on my site.
Head Detail
When I started to paint this little girl's portrait, I wanted to keep that vintage feel of the photo, but I needed to really punch up the color. I decided to put her in a very pink dress and have that color reflect up into her face and other exposed body parts. The paint handling is very loose to fit in with the Impressionistic style flower bed and a little tribute to Monet and his garden in Giverny.
Original Photo Reference
I did not want to copy every detail of the dress, because quiet frankly I just can't paint what I can't see. I borrowed the general dress form and with a lot of artistic freedom, set out to add visual interest to the painting. This little girl's portrait is now full of life and color and shows what is possible with even the poorest of photo references.
