The First Grandchild

I love being a grandmother! Watching all those firsts... Taking pleasure in just being there for them as they move from one stage to another. Our youngest grandchild is now 14, too big to carry around...but we have good friends who are just getting started in the 'grandparent' role. It is wonderful to see love in action.

I dropped by a friend's house one day when her grandson was visiting. I had not met him before so I spent a few minutes in some silly chat. I went inside to visit with his grandfather and when I got ready to leave, I went back outside and found him and his grandmother. I wanted to say good by and also wanted to take some pictures! 

I asked if I could take his picture. His grandmother was holding him, he turned around to look at me...and I snapped a few pictures.

One of the things that I love to paint is relationships. The photo captured that!

I began with a sketch on sanded pastel paper.

I wanted to begin with the lightest parts of the painting. It has always intrigued me that with pastels, you can create skin tones with all the light pastels. I used pink, green, blue, yellow... on the faces and his arm.

Then I began to create the rest of the painting. I got this far and showed it to my art group - they are great critics. 

We all agreed, that even though I had followed the photo, the angle of her arm was awkward and his hand needed work. I also wasn't sure what to do about the background...  I worked on the arm in several different ways. That meant that I had to also redo his pants...I had to make up that part. I tried different colors for background. I do not remember why I thought this would work. Actually, I think I picked up the wrong pastel!

So, lots more tweaking and redefining... changing the angle of her shoulder...finishing his hand...changing his pants some ...and here it is. 

It was a surprise Christmas present. So much fun to watch her open it!