Allison by the Pond

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

This is the third of three little sisters; the first portrait was sadly a posthumous one, and the grandmother wished to capture each of the other two children at the same age as their older sister was in her painting. It's oil on canvas and 16x20. The left side of the painting is actually darker than this shows; I've been having a lot of trouble getting even lighting with my digital camera.

For the background we used the pond by my studio.

[Richard Huante]

Hi Leslie,

This is a lovely, fresh portrait. So full of life and color!

Sincerely,

[Mary Sparrow]

Very sweet Leslie. I have never painting a whole person on a canvas that small, is it hard?

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Thanks for your compliments, Richard and Mary. I admit I was beginning to wonder when there was no response at all! The grandmother likes this one best of all; the second portrait depicted the child holding a shell and seated on a bench with the bay as background; that was a lot easier to paint.

In the reference photo the lilies were orange but I changed them to fit in better with the color scheme as a whole.

I would not have been able to include much detail in the face on a canvas that small if the child hadn't been sitting as she was, which foreshortened the limbs. It's not hard to fit it all in if you use the "how many heads" measurement and then go from there. In terms of canvas size it had to match the others. I think when the clients hang it they'll find that there is a significant different in the size of the children's heads, though.

Thanks again for looking!