Often, my clients have me do commissioned paintings as a gift, which means I get to share in a small way in some fun milestones!
This was the case with a recent portrait I did of a married couple who is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Their daughter, Catherine, originally planned on organizing a fun gathering to celebrate her parent’s big day, but unfortunately the pandemic eliminated that option. Determined to still find a way to commemorate the day in a special, Catherine got the idea of having a portrait painted – which is when she reached out to me!
The first step was to find an image that would make a good subject for a painting. For a photo to fit this bill, it should be a good picture of the people – but also recall an important or fun memory. Fortunately, Catherine had a picture that was a perfect fit! She sent along this photo below, which was taken while her parents were away at a particularly meaningful vacation:
With this as a start point, I then worked on edits to the composition to elevate the image from a snapshot to something worthy of a keepsake. First, I zoomed in on her parents to get a better representation of their faces. Then, I suggested I replace the support beam behind her father with a tree to make it less of a distraction and more just a part of the beautiful background. Finally, I made minor tweaks to the colors of their clothing to make sure the clothes don’t pull too much attention away from the rest of the image.
Below is the final result. Catherine was thrilled! Her first words when I delivered the painting were “that is completely them!!”
Enjoy!
