Mother with Child

Thomasin Dewhurst · 02-11-2007, 02:08 PM

This is my son and I. 36" x 24" oil on canvas finished a day or two ago.

Alexandra Tyng · 02-11-2007, 10:31 PM

Thomasin,

Wonderful! I don't know how you managed to do this from life. Did you pose yourself first, then held your son for short periods of time? Tell me your secret. Anyway, I think it's brilliant how you stopped at just the right point modeling his face, so that just the delicate colors describe the cheeks and nose, and you really don't need any more information to see how sweet he is. Your face captures the viewer's attention and holds it. There's a very protective feeling about your look and arm gesture. It also looks as if the viewer has startled you, walking in on a private moment between mother and child. I really love this--oh, I haven't even said anything about the fresh, clean color (are those cads in the shadows?) and great big wonderful swathes of color/light in the background. I think THIS is a prizewinner--don't give up.

Karine Monaco · 02-12-2007, 08:27 AM

Thomasin,

I'm impressed. Spontaneous and strong, and I love your original background... very inspiring. I love this painting and wish I could see it "for real".
Congratulations and thank you for sharing!

Karine

Marina Dieul · 02-12-2007, 09:53 AM

Very nice work, Thomasin !
I like it a lot. Your colors seem to glow and are very particular to you. Like Alex, i'm also very curious to know how you painted this from life. I was able to draw my 5 years old for 1 hour, but my 2 years old: never more than 1 or 2 mn sketches...(and with the thumb in the mouth)

Thomasin Dewhurst · 02-12-2007, 12:19 PM

Thank you so much for your replies. Gosh! I really didn't think anyone would like this. I put it up to see how badly people would react to it. I really never expected such enthusiasm. I was actually influenced by [URL=http://www.hakon-gullvag.no/]H

Grethe Angen · 02-12-2007, 04:31 PM

Thomasin, this is lovely. And I see no Gullv

Carlos Ygoa · 02-12-2007, 05:14 PM

VERY nice; very strong, very personal. I like the "arrepentimiento" (or was it?) of your son

Sharon Knettell · 02-12-2007, 08:12 PM

This is one of the loveliest paintings that has been posted here.

The paint really lives. The face has it's own reality without being at all photograhic. Just lovely.

Thomasin Dewhurst · 02-12-2007, 09:04 PM

Wow. Thank-you so much for all your warm comments. I feel so emancipated. That I have found something in my work that comes from the core of me, and it's actually approved of. I really didn't expect it, but I am so appreciative of it.

Karine - the background is one of the things that I feel free about. That I didn't "finish" it - I trusted my gut conviction that it felt like light.

Marina - Those 2 minute sketches that I usually do of my 2 year old really helped me get to know what it was a loved drawing about him, and helped me transfer it into paint, so memory played a part too in the rendering of his head. I am trying to get my paintings more like those sketches.

Grethe - Maybe I took from Gullv

Tom Edgerton · 02-13-2007, 03:36 PM

Terrific!