Portraits of Children
Janet's portraits of children seem to capture their personalities. She explains; "Each child is a unique creation and before I draw them I use a magnifying glass to study the submitted photo to see every inch of their little faces. I think of how their own mother's must have done the same and this is the moment I want to bring to my work."
"...When the child was a child, it walked with it's arms swinging. It wanted the stream to be a river, the river a torrent, and the puddle to be the sea. When the child was a child, it didn't know it was a child. Everything was full of life, and all life was one." ~ From the poem "Song of Childhood" by Peter Handke
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"All That Matters" Shaw Boys
20" x 32" Acrylic on Illustration Board
(for resolution quality, view enlarged)
"Since children are spontaneous to the moment, sometimes an artist has to use magic; when I would place one boy on the rock, then begin to place the others, the first boy might be out of position or gone. The boys took turns playing the game, so I ended up taking separate photographs, then pasted them together for a reference photo and we all won!" "Reference Photos"
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"Hayden" ~ Growth Progression Portrait
11" x 14" Graphite on Paper
Sometimes it makes the portrait interesting to use candid shots of a subject. The unposed positions let us get a clear glimpse into the little personality and peer into this child's daily life. You can almost hear him laughing in the bath.
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"Curt (1976) & Brody (2006)" (father & son)
16" x 20" Graphite on Paper
Janet's client wanted the father (child on left) to look "faded," as if in the background, rather than appearing as their son's sibling. When you look at the reference photographs, and then the drawing, you can see the level of realism Janet is able to achieve. "Reference Photos"
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"Ryan Austin" ~ Growth Progression Portrait
11" x 14" Graphite on Paper
In a growth-progression portrait you can see the changes a child makes as he grows. (also see "Hayden" above) When the portrait is of an older child, you can see many changes.
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"Siblings & Cousins"
14" x 20" Graphite on Paper
Portrait of young cousins for a Grandmother's gift. Growth-progression portraits can also be done of siblings in the same portrait, using progression images of each child, in a collage' format.
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