Composite Challenge

My current project is giving me a nice challenge.  Different from the regular close-up portrait in which I normally utilize only one photo, I'm working on predominately landscape images from a composite of two photos.

The location in the images was of sentimental value to my client.  Not only did she want her kids in them, but also the view or the house or the boat.

I ran into an issue with the boat painting where I needed to use the boat and boy from one photo and the girl and the dock from the other.  The first time I painted it, the boy was much too small in comparison.  Yes, he was supposed to be further away, but it just wasn't working so he had to be wiped out and repainted.  And I thought this image would be the easiest to paint!  I'm usually wrong about that.


I decided to work on all three simultaneously for a couple of reasons:  so that the color palette would related between them, so I could switch around between them when I got frustrated on something in particular, and so they would be similar stylistically.

After sketching and transferring the drawing to the canvas, I applied a light wash of paint with lots of paint thinner.  Kind of a watercolor-ish effect.  I just wanted to have some color on there with the major pieces blocked in.

Then I mixed my skin tones and painted in all the kids, followed by their clothing.  The polk-a-dot dresses were fun.

Today I channelled my inner Bob Ross to paint a happy little tree and my inner van Gogh (that's a scary thought) to get the grass approximated.

Ah, but I hate it when skin tones get muddy.  I'm doing a little reading on color-mixing.  Still lots of stuff to do and changes to make, but that's what the process is all about.  I'll post the finals when their done.