I stuck to a very reduced palette of browns and yellow, just to show their happy, young faces while dressing for halloween.
Since Ella also loved this painting, I was tempted to have another crack at that evening. This time I went all-out on the colour, including changing the monochrome leggings for much brighter ones. The background is a hot yellow, to give a party atmosphere. The red feathery headdress was actually there, just as you see it. So were Rowan’s strange white contact lenses and the bright blue make up.
I gave this painting to Ella for her birthday. The bright palette still counts as restricted (teal, lemon yellow, phthalo blue and naphthol red, on a nice bright ground of yellow and orange acrylic ink).
Just to whet your appetite, here is just one page of gorgeous acrylic colours on Jacksons’s website.
These two portraits record the evening’s progress, as they relax and laugh together, to when they pose, fully made up and ready to go.
There is a portrait of my son (Duncan) on the Portraits portfolio page.
