NanasJoy

Oil on hardboard panel, "Nana's Joy", after a video I'd taken in the hospital after my twin sons' birth.  I recently was occupied copying video to DVD and the image of this scene, despite some really poor quality of the video and subsequent still image I photographed off the TV, captured my imagination.  I worked hard at the composition, deciding how to trim the image to frame it just so.  It keeps the rule of thirds but also the triangle which conveys stability, and the horizontal layout adds to the tranquility - not to mention the flood of light.     

The radiator grill in the back is unattractive but the only clue to the location of the scene, and the implication that this is a newborn.  My wife would prefer more of a Gerber baby look, but that's not what a newborn looks like.  Besides, it was pretty hard as it was to see what I was trying to paint, and it took a lot of imagination given the quality of what I had to work with.  Still, the grandmother "Nana" (my mother) is spot on.  My visiting sister saw the painting and was amazed.  The photo of the painting suffers some glare, and the colors are hard to register well in a photo, but this is not too far off.