Portraits in Pastel-Red Heads!

My father was an inspiration for the series of portraits of red-heads that I am in the midst of painting. It seemed only fitting that a portrait of him should be included in the exhibit. The photo that I found most interesting for the painting for this series looks like he was in his later 20's or early 30's, maybe taken by my mother. No color film then, so I worked from a sepia toned photo. There was an added challenge of the low resolution and small size of the photo. A look through other family photos included a picture of Dad in color, with hair! I used that photo as a reference for his hair color in the painting, imagining that 20 or so years earlier his hair was a touch redder, without the gray.

Ralph

12x16