Deciding on who to paint what will inevitably be passed down to the next generation and so forth, can be a tricky one. Should you go oil or pencil, traditional or contemporary, capture the kids at the same time or at the same age…. Having the children painted by a portrait artist has been on my ‘to do’ list but it had never made it to the top until recently, when I was introduced to Samuel Francis.
This is where the lovely Samuel Francis can help. Samuel has drawn and painted from childhood and started to specialize in portraiture from an early age. These years of experience show in his beautiful portraits, in which he uses charcoal and oil paint. His approach to portraiture is based on simple draughtsmanship that results in a timeless yet informal feeling to his portraits.
Samuel came up to our house in Hampshire to meet the kids and do a pencil sketch and take some photos to work on to complete the finished piece.
One of the most profound quotes from the day was his reply to my 8yr old commenting on his pencil sketch, that it slightly looked like him
‘At the moment it is half you and half stranger and I am going to take it away and make it look 100% like you’
And he certainly did, not only did he physically capture him, he really captivated their personalities. We agreed on the photo from which to work on, the colour palette to suit the room they would be hung in, and the size.
I dressed them traditionally in the same hue so they could be hung together. The colour of the frame brings them out beautifully and altogether.
We are yet to paint the house so the cool colours of the paintings didn’t work on the ‘magnolia’ walls above the fireplace, so we had a reshuffle and for the time being thought they looked best in the TV room. This is not their final resting place, I wanted to hang them up to correspond with this post so you could see the whole process!
Having two children himself, sam has a very natural way with the kids and the whole process was really fun.
He is a true professional and his communication throughout was brilliant – he sent me the finished paintings on whatssapp so I could suggest any changes – not that I needed to!
We are so thrilled with the paintings and highly recommend Sam to paint your kids. I am thrilled to have got them all done at the same time as it captures them at a moment in time as siblings and we were able to get the proportions and colouring correct. I urge you to call Sam and get cracking, they won’t stay young and angelic forever.
Sam has a few slots left before Christmas – so get them done as a Christmas present for your other half!
info@samuelfrancisportraits.com
07542 023614
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