Reading on a Jet Plane

Reading on a Jet Plane, 20x16, oil on canvas panel

From the takeaway from the workshop I did earlier this month, I decided to redo one of the subjects started there. Not over paint the existing painting as is my habit, but start over from the beginning on a new canvas. I spent more time getting the proportions correct up front instead of covering the canvas with big shapes as I did in the previous version. This version is working so much better. You see the second figure reading much more clearly. His hands don't look like hams.

In my efforts to always improve, I decided it was good to start over as I knew what I wanted to do differently after the study done in the workshop. In this version I wanted to keep the yellow/violet complements but not overuse either. I wanted to keep the big shapes simple. I think it gives a good idea of the bright light you get flying high above the earth. 

Since this photo dates before digital imagery or maybe at the beginning of digital photography (was it really 13 years ago?) I worked from a 4 x6 photo I had in our photo album from our trip to Germany in 2002. This is my son (sans glasses as I did not think that the glasses were needed for the success of the painting and it is not technically a portrait) and my daughter is in the window seat.