My Sister's Wedding

My Sister’s Wedding

A challenging picture, with yellow lamplight from the left and cool overheads from the right, shining on the shimmering muted gold of the taffeta maid of honor dress that Lauren wore. I often recalled Darren Kingsley’s sage observation that reclining poses are hard for the model to maintain, and consequently for the painter to paint. Pillows shift, the figure sinks, the head drifts….well, we don’t expect our models to be machines. In fact, we celebrate their human qualities, such as the sadness of watching a beloved elder sister marry a guy who is wrong for her in so many ways.