[Juan Martinez]

Hi Joan

I haven't been too active on the Forum lately, so I hope you don't mind my jumping in here, sort of "unannounced". ...

First, I think your overall concept looks nice and it is well worth pursuing for your painting.

Regarding your specific questions:

1) as Chuck mentioned, a white shirt may steal the thunder from the sitters' faces, but it need not. And, as far as that goes, so can nearly any other shirt colour. The main thing to watch out for is that the sitters' faces don't end up blending in with the background. This happens all too often in portraits where, if one were to squint and look at the painting, it becomes a portrait of a suit or of a dress, because the faces have fallen in with the background. You are right in wishing to mass the lights together in the centre, though. If you can keep the whiter whites right near the heads, then I think you're OK. Remember all those Baroque portraits (think van Dyck) where people all wore a white ruff, or later in the 18 century (think Reynolds) where everyone had a white collar? Well, that sort of thing helped to "frame" the face and set the viewer's attention. Unfortunately, a white shirt is white all the way down, not just near the head, so you've got to figure a way to downplay its whiteness elsewhere. A lighter, greyer background is an option. That way, the shirt more-or-less blends in with the background in terms of value, and the flesh is then the more contrasting aspect of the central part of the painting. That is, the face is a higher chroma than the background/shirt combination, and is a bit darker, too. (As we lighten things, we tend to lose chroma, or brightness, so a slightly darker flesh can remain brighter.)

2) When you get to the final posing session, in addition to the fine points that Michael brought up, you might also take some shots of each child separately. They don't really need to be together in order for you to paint them together. In the test shot you posted, your daughter looked good and had a nice relaxed pose, so you may not need her there any longer. It might be, though, that your son will be more relaxed, or relax-able, if his sister weren't there for a few shots. I don't know why that would be, necessarily, but it might help. Sometimes, a sitter is self-conscious about being in a portrait with someone else without knowing it. Give it a try anyway.

Good luck, and, as I said, the concept looks very good and do-able.

All best.

Juan