Nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming love I feel for my son. Fatherhood is such a wonderful, profound and often strange journey. I’m so proud of this particular delightful creature of a boy!

I have a more ambitious painting of Lucas planned for the near future. In the meantime however, I’d promised myself that I’d make at least one painting before his second birthday… So without further adieu, here is Lucas at 21 months, bathed in the early morning sunlight in the moments just after waking up.

“Lucas at 21 Months – Little Bed Head”
12″ x 16″ soft pastel on paper

My intention was to make his impossibly unruly head of curly hair the focus. I approached the hair almost as a watercolor or gouache painting – wetting pastel and applying it with small brushes. I added a little gum arabic here and there as a binder and to allow for longer strokes.

“Lucas at 21 Months – Little Bed Head” (detail)
12″ x 16″ soft pastel on paper

The face and shirt were completed in a more typical fashion — dry applications of pastels blended with Colour Shapers. The support was Art Spectrum Colourfix Pastel Paper. The surface is much smoother than the primed hardboard that I normally use, but it seemed well suited to this particular image.

I have some notion that I will make one painting for every year of Lucas’ childhood. Or at least until he complains and asks me to stop. 🙂

Thanks for looking!