Joshua's Portrait

I was recently given a set of three commissions to paint for a dear friend, one each of her three (mostly grown) kids. I tackled Joshua's portrait first of all, mostly because the looked so damned cool holding the wall up.

I believe the photo was taken in his mid-late teens…

I picked a 45x60xm canvas...I've been using that size a lot lately, its a good size for medium sized walls in studies and bedrooms.

I've cropped the image and zoomed in to focus on Joshua himself and had a bit of fun with the background.

The jumper!! I normally love to pick over the little details like this, I find it quite relaxing, believe it or not. Had the photo been any clearer, I would have replicated it letter by letter. As it was the only word I could decipher was unit so I set about filling it in with illegible scribbles….

And hiding the names of his siblings in there….

His whole face, from the peak of his cap to the bottom of his chin is slightly longer than a lighter, so I have a whole new appreciation for miniaturists and the portraits they paint for lockets and such. The eye is a bit of a sneaky touch...you can't make it out unless you step closer, which the jumper invites people to do.

I was fortunate enough to access other family photos of him and get a sense of his face - the shape of his chin and the curve of his jaw. I'm pleased with the result, I think I've even managed to capture that little bit that of I-don't-want-my-photo-taken attitude.

And I'll upload that final photo any day now. 

COMING SOON:
The most beautiful bone structure I've worked with to date; a very meaningful portrait of Joshua's sister, Tahlia, on her 21st birthday.