Week 105

The thrill of exploration surged through me again. Painting something so different, so classical, was invigorating.

Our tiny muse was finally immortalized in a duet of sweet cheeks. His skin was perfect, clear, and full of life. We took his pictures in the morning light coming through the playroom windows. I was desperate to capture the colors in his skin and the innocent beauty of his cherub-like form.

We combined our images to tell a story. Getting the lighting just right was tricky. Then, in the studio, we pared our color palette down to a blocked form (not kidding, it looked like a strange version of Minecraft) and began painting with the overarching pixel color, then moving into more detail from there. This technique worked amazingly on large areas but was more difficult in smaller ones.

In our very first series, we were processing the loss of my husband’s father, our mentor and one of our main inspirations. It drew us close in a way I couldn’t have imagined. Now, we are creating a piece influenced by him and his frequent work with Tiepolo-inspired pieces.

The scene is set, brimming with meaning—old and new, war and peace, chaos and order, and new life. Let us continually reach for more of all that is best in these.- K