[Garth Herrick]

Thanks Terri, and Michele!

Terri: I think the painting comes together closer than 4 or 5 feet. It seems okay to me at 2 feet (but maybe I need glasses).

Michele: The figures are exactly life size in the painting, so the boy's head is also. I have had a long habit of working life size, but never larger. I guess this stems from my former practice of making life size standing cut-out portraits on birch panels (with the edges beveled back, like a traditional dummy-board of the 17th century).

I was in a hurry painting this so I was not particular about how wet the paint surface was when scumbled over. Often I strove for a wet into wet technique to maintain better control over subtle tone and value shifts, but after the wet surface had set up, I could work in a gently dragged scumble. Generally the paint was applied very sparingly, but this can be a fault, although it dries faster. If I was applying a carefully controlled velatura (which to me is like a glaze, and is very different from a scumble), then the under layer of paint should seem dry so that it will not be etched or lifted away with brushing and wiping manipulations.

Hope this helps!