There is something wonderfully captivating about Kathryn’s expression. Wet hair swept back from her face, cheeks flushed from the Florida sun, she turns toward the camera with a look that is bright, confident, and completely her own.
This original acrylic child portrait began with a photograph taken on a family vacation at Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Kathryn’s grandmother, professional photographer @peggykeelan, was behind the camera, capturing her grandchildren as they played along the shore. Kathryn was originally photographed with her brother, Max, but when their grandmother cropped the photograph into two individual images, each child suddenly told a story of their own.
Kathryn’s photograph immediately made me want to paint her.
I loved the contrast between her vivid pink swimsuit and the soft blues, aquas, lavenders, and sandy colors of the Atlantic behind her. Her sun-warmed skin is filled with unexpected pinks, corals, golds, and violets, painted with loose, expressive brushstrokes that allow the light and energy of that beach day to remain visible.
But for me, this portrait is really about her face. There is such presence in that direct gaze—a little bit playful, a little bit self-assured, and wonderfully unguarded. It is one of those expressions that belongs to a particular moment in childhood and disappears almost as quickly as it arrives.
That is what I wanted this custom portrait painting to hold onto.
Kathryn at Jacksonville Beach. Saltwater hair, rosy cheeks, bright Florida light, and her grandmother on the other side of the camera.
One small moment from a family vacation, preserved in paint.