Colleen's Boys

During my "Painting the Town" solo exhibit at the Old Brogue Irish Pub (the gathering spot for the town of Great Falls, VA), I chose several days to paint in the restaurant. I painted two women having tea one day, then my mom having lunch with six of her friends the second day.  While I was painting my mom's group, a woman who had been watching me (Colleen) asked me what would happen if her three sons showed up there on Thursday, let's say at 10am? We agreed to their being the subject of that day's painting.

When I showed up on Thursday, right before 10, the place was packed, including the table in the corner where they wanted to be painted -- and the area that I would need to set up my stuff. While I unloaded my gear, the two spots became available. My only problem was that I had just moved that month -- thus unorganized and with no apparent brush in sight. I finally found two rather inadequate ones in the back of my car and was ready to go. Colleen's sons had consumed their breakfast by then. (Of course.) And, so they had to just hang out with for awhile for me to get something down on canvas and get a sense of their personalities. The youngest one was bouncing from place to place -- so he had the most heads. (I painted him in later, with just one of those heads, from the few photo references taken.) I absolutely love the composition and energy of this piece. It was a lot like magic.