Playful Beach Memories Commission
A client reached out to me recently to commission a painting that would be a surprise gift for her husband on his special 40th Birthday. It was a picture of him with their first born son enjoying a vacation at a sandy North Carolina beach. She mentioned that it was their first beach vacation after her husband recovered from a major illness, and the tough times that their family endured. So, this formed a milestone vacation for them. And the bonding between the father and the son was so special in this moment, that my client wanted it to be captured and highlighted in a special way for their family to look back upon.
It was such a heart warming story, and such a joy painting this piece, as it helped me relate to my own family’s experiences of beach vacations over time.
The first beach vacation with our first born will be etched in our memories forever. The sound of crashing waves and the gentle salty breeze lulled my cranky newborn to fall fast asleep in my arms as we strolled along the shoreline.
As our boys grew older, our beach vacations became more frequent and were filled with memories of our boys laughing and playing in the sandy dunes, while we adults lounged, relaxed, and savored our own moments of connection.
As I reminisced through these memories, I applied my artistic skills to paint my client’s story on the canvas with heavy layers of Acrylic paints, and a wide variety of brush strokes. Observation is a key factor in painting people’s portraits. The interaction of light, shadows, colors and tones are crucial to capture the moment correctly.
It was a quick turnaround with a few easy sweeping brushstroke to form the sky, ocean and sandy backdrop with a peek of the green shoreline. However, I spent most of the time getting the proportion right of the father and the son, and then fine tuning the effect of the sunlight on their faces, which in my opinion was the main focus of this entire picture - the evening sunlight! It was crucial that I captured the golden hour and the effect of the setting sun as perfectly as I could to create the environment correctly.
The photo that my client provided was thankfully perfect and ready to be painted in its existing format. But, I always try to bring in a few artistic twists here and there to enhance the composition. In this case, the shadows under the dad’s feet partially buried in the sand came from a tiny sliver of my own imagination, as it was non existing in the photograph. I felt that the shadow enhanced the effect of the sunlight even better.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this commission, and my client’s sweet story. If you would like to turn your story into an artistic keepsake, feel free to email me at poojaroystudio@gmail.com to discuss! Or visit my Commissions page for more info.
