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Tom, David, Ilaria and Julie-Thanks!
I admit I was worried about getting the color (or the greys) right. The photos I had were not bad for that time, on 400 asa film and grainy but relatively sharp. The problem with the color is that incandescent light photographed uniformly yellow, so I knew there were many variations in skin tone that I couldn't see. Plus, I remembered the Aladdin lamp's light being white and intense. The house has since been electrified, and my brother and I were going to try and find the lamp and light it this summer, but we were not there at the same time. So I had to go by memory. My main issues were correcting for the pervasive yellow and also, as you point out, Ilaria, trying to work with a lot of greys and use them to my advantage (to unify the painting and bring out the areas of color). It was a lot of fun and I want to do more paintings in low light. So, Tom, the tonal control was actually a very interesting problem in this painting!
Julie, your memory of the "camp light" is so close to my memories of this scene. The island where this was painted did not have a generator until recently. We did everything by propane and kerosene, and went up to bed with flashlights. If you read in bed, the batteries would wear down, and who knew when you would get to the mainland for more! So you had to live by the sun. Very much like the camping trips I've taken.
David, I have a problem with paintings that try to look as though they are from another era. So many candlelit/lamplit paintings are like this. I like to paint things that are in the present. Well. . . I guess 25 years ago really is from the last century but we'll let that go, okay?
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