Mr Arceneaux contacted me about createing a portrait for his wife (a surprise Christmas present).

He sent family pictures for me to work from, however I needed to add another person, his father-in-law. His wife lost her father last year, his passing broke her heart. A photo of him dancing with her at their wedding would suffice for this project.

Their little boy needed some adjusting...

liked his face here:

& his pose here:

For her dad, I would have to find someone to pose for some photos so I could create a new body of him for the portrait. My husband was the model. (He's a model husband.)

A rough draft was sent for approval & critiquing:

Two different photos were used to create the background. Well, that's the beginning of the story. The end of the story has not arrived as of yet.

PS. The drawing & underpainting was completed by Christmas, to give as a gift.

The first photo really did show enough of the Mom's likeness because her head was tilted downward...another photo was used to replace her head.

Here's a short video showing the whole progression of the painting: