Penrod 1

This year's Decorator's Show House is the former home of Indiana author Booth Tarkington. One of his books, "Penrod"is about a young boy's life and antics growing up in the early 1900's. I was asked by artist and designer Kathleen Stevens to do a series of paintings for an area she will be decorating.    I began by doing a photo shoot of my grandson Gabriel dressed as the young boy, Penrod.  The above photo shows the beginning stages of my painting.  I always enlarge my photo in "black and white".  This gives me a perfect reference from which to begin a value study.  I use a mixture of Sap Green and Alizarin  as a dark transparent wash.  It is perfect for the dark and middle values.  The color of the clear coated linen makes for a nice light tone.  I love the way this turned out, so much so that I almost left it as an "oil study".  But, after several days of studying it in my studio, I decided to take my painting  to the next stage. The following blog entries will be a step by step progression of my portrait of Penrod.