Grasping My Father's Hand process

I laid in the initial sketch of Drewbaby's hand and my brother David's hand. Things went quickly and well. The painting reminds me of the photograph of the the baby reaching out of the womb and grasping the doctor's hand during surgery.

As is always the case, I enjoy getting to the point of working details. And as is usually the case, there are things that I need to change. As I worked in the top left quarter, I started to realize that the coloring was not what I really desired. I was looking for more of a sepia...and hadn't really achieved it. So, as I began the pinky area, I began changing the tones, and came up with more of what I desired. I will begin reworking the rest of the coloring as I progress through the rest of the painting.

I was able to start doing more of the warmer coloring and almost finished Drewbaby's hand. I started laying the palm of David's hand with some detail right near Drewbaby's hand. Worked on Dave's ring also. I am thoroughly enjoying this painting and always look forward to working on it after home school.

I guess it's kind of obvious what I got done between the last painting and this one. I got a lot done on David's palm as well as getting his ring finger totally done. I've gotten most of the background blocked in with a basic color. I began to adjust the coloring on the two "purple fingers." This painting has been pretty straight forward and I feel like every time I sit down at the easel, my time is extremely productive.

Every once in a while I luck out and get a good picture (this was one of those times). At this time in a lot of paintings, I sit back and begin to get a real satisfied feeling with the way the painting is going. I've really begun to finish a lot of David's hand, with only a few areas to go back and touch up. I love doing the extreme details such as the tiny wrinkles in Dave's palm and fingers. Drew's chest is the only area that is still at a first stage. I'm starting to see what I'm going to want to do with the background. I can see the finished product for the first time, which is a good point to get to in every painting.

Oh well, back to not so good photography. Anyway, the painting is really starting to pull to a finish. I'm to the finish point where everything I do will be the "final touch." This is by far my favorite part of the painting. I am toning down the orange to (hopefully) a sepia coloring. I've started softening up the background also so that it's not so "fiery" looking. This a quite, peaceful scene, not an in-your-face piece. I've also gotten Drew's body to a kind of a finished level. I'll touch that up more as I go along. Completion is not far away.

Here's the final drawing. I've had some very positive response to it. We're considering doing prints from it, so if you have any response to that thought, let me know. I have a few different places I'm thinking about submitting it to get published also. It's time to move on to the next painting.