I caught myself saying this during a phone call lately. Luckily the lady was my age and knew what I was talking about. The conversation was about clothing options for her family portrait. She had done the white shirts and jeans at our last session and wanted something different. So what I told her was this. Just stay in the same color family. Perhaps you want neutrals, cremes, taupe’s, etc. Stay with those color choices and dress everyone for their personality. Maybe you have one child who is more tailored and classic. She could be in a soft creme button down with chocolate pearls and bracelets. One child is a little Bohemian and she could go with a darker taupe and wear a fabulous chocolate scarf, around her neck or even her head! The third one is more country/western and wants to wear her dark brown leather cowboy boots and a sundress with a brown leather belt! You see how this can go together. Keep with one color family and use accents appropriately. Think about the room you are going to hang it in, lay all the clothes out in that room to see just how well they go together. The main colors of your walls and your furniture should be considered as well as the accent pillow colors and other accent items. If you are really stumped, check out the ads for furniture stores. Haverty’s or Herman Home in St. Petersburg are two to look at. Also, online clothing stores can spark ideas. Anthropologie is a great one, I love the clothing there. Or Land’s End. Two very different looks, but they both do color well, just in different ways. The one thing I try to stay away from always is the patterns. Patterns look good when you are moving around, but in a two dimensional portrait, they draw the viewer’s eye away from the face – which is the most important area of the entire portrait. If you really want a pattern, keep it small and keep it confined to one of the accent pieces, the scarf or jewelry if possible. That’s it for today. Check out the two images below to see about patterns. Which portrait is stronger? Cover up the patterned area of the portrait with your hand to see what I am talking about.
