All American Red Head
 

This adorable little boy is now complete. He was a joy to work with. When I got to putting his freckles on, I told him to hold very still for just a minute because I wanted them all in the right place. He responded by saying, "Oh you can put them anywhere, I have hundreds!"

Jean

Beautiful!
 

Jean,

This is a beautiful portrait. I can't take my eyes off of it, everything from the composition to the details is wonderful. I especially like how you've left a few passages with a more 'painterly' feel. I'll now go to your 'homepage' to see what else you've done!

Joan

No home page
 

Oh, you don't have a homepage :o . I would love to see more of your work.

Joan

Jean,

Congratulations on a very successful portrait.

Sincerely,
Mike

Oh, Jean, you have done a wonderful job! I think this is very best portrait of yours I have seen. You should be thrilled!

Chris, I am thrilled. This is the first time I actually followed all the "rules", planning, planning, and more planning. It made the actual painting much more enjoyable. Thank you.

Mike, the tips I've gotten from you on photography have helped me with the end result. Thank you for all your wisdom and generous sharing of knowledge.

Joan, no website yet. My son has been working on it for a year now, he keeps getting sidetracked, and I am too particular about what I want. I think I'll have to bite the bullet and hire someone. I'm glad you like it, and want to encourage you to keep working. I've learned everything I know here on this forum; anything you need is at your fingertips.

:D

Jean

Jean,

This is just a fabulously successful portrait! I feel I have been honored to be able to watch you progress on this project on my computer monitor at each stage from beginning to finish. You must feel proud of what you have accomplished. I am proud of you! I could sense at the beginning that this kid had great potential for you as a subject for a portrait, and I don't think anyone could have done a more masterful job with the challenges this portrait presented. Nice job! Thanks for sharing it with all of us.

Garth

Jean, this is a charming, strong painting and I like it very much. It feels like you've put your heart into this one.

This is the kind of top-notch painting - great technique, composition and subject -that you'll want to put on your business card, your website and your advertising brochure.

Well done!

Jean

Excellent Job - Great composition, I love the hands. This is my favorite work of yours now.

Congratulations!

Linda

Jean,

This is also my favorite of yours. He is captivating. As Linda said, use this as a promotional piece. Great job!

Holly

Having my work praised by a "jury of my peers" is the dream I felt was unattainable in my lifetime. Your comments are truly heartwarming. Thank you all.

Holly, thank you. He is a captivating little boy, and so much fun. I asked him if he had any freckles on the bridge of his nose, he crossed his eyes and said, "Hey, I can see my other eyeball!"

Thank you Linda N. His hands were one of my favorite parts of the painting too. My grandson posed as a "stand in" a couple of times too.

Linda B. Does this mean that I have to get business cards, a website, and brochures now? :o Guess I need to get things rolling here. Thank you, your comments mean a lot to me, maybe part of my heart did go into this one, I'm sorry it's done now.

Hi Garth, I appreciate all your praise, you make me blush. I guess I never saw all the challenges in this one, maybe that's a good thing. Somehow, I was able to bond with this little boy within 20 minutes, so I've become his adopted gramma and will be keeping contact with him periodically. I already have four grandsons, what's one more??

Jean

Jean,

This painting has all the qualities of a great painting:color, composition, expression and I like the brushwork. This is by far your best. I'm also partial to red-heads for some strange reason.

Congragulations!

Hi Mike.

Thank you, thank you. I'm partial to red-heads too, I was a red-head for awhile but hubby didn't think I had the "stuff" to be a real one. :sunnysmil

Jean

Jean -

Wow - this is so strong! My favorite of yours so far as well! Great job.

Wonderful painting, Jean, and yes, I believe it is your best yet, too. Time to march down to your local Kinko's with this image on a CD and get a few hundred business cards made with a closeup of this portrait on it. Great work!

I have no experience painting, but I have many many years' experience being a redhead! Let me tell you that wearing red when you have red hair is a challenge. Often the two reds clash. This little boy's hair color is identical to mine and you have done a miraculous job with color here. He looks like he has the coloring of a redhead and then you were able to successfully reflect the red from his shirt onto his coloring. Somehow these reds work, they don't clash and it amazes me!!!

Besides, he is adorable and you did an incredible job capturing his spirit and impishness!!!

Congratulations!!!

Patricia, Thank you so much, compliments from a true redhead (your tinyhead) are heartwarming. I think that not using any ochre, sienna, umber, or black on my palette may have helped with the reds not clashing. Also hair, shirt, and skin shadowed areas are created with the addition of a mixed violet in different intensities. I was tempted many times to grab the sienna or black so ended up hiding all of them in a tackle box!

Michele, you have been one of my inspirations. Watching your growth on this forum has kept me going many times. Thank you, and I'll get the cards now. I've been printing out postcards on a heavy weight matte paper and will be taking them around to all the area galleries. It's time to generate some paying work!

Kim, I've watched you struggle too, and cheered for you (a certain cowboy on the bordello porch comes to mind)! Thank you, I appreciate it.

Jean

Jean, I'm not sure that will get you anywhere. Most portrait artists get their commissions through word of mouth, not galleries. Many galleries are reluctant to establish a relationship with artists who work on commission. Check out the business and marketing threads for a dozen different ideas on how to get work.

Hi Michele, I'll head back there again. I can't do the art fair route because I can't depend on a fully functioning body. I may have to do some charity auctions, and I've been in contact with some of my old interior design clients (from my custom bedroom days). We have something called the "Parade of Homes" coming up here, and I'll see if I can get some of my work displayed. I have one commission coming in, but that's certainly not enough.

I also do animals, here's my latest: "The Gypsy Girl". I had her in the last show and could have sold it 10 times over. I may make a giclee of her.

Jean

Jean, great job. He looks like one of those kids that'll say "bang, bang, you're dead" to complete strangers while shooting them with a plastic revolver after hiding behind clothes in a department store.

Michele's idea of cards with the closeup sounds like a good way to go. Good luck.

ps. You may even consider either a separate card or a two-sided one with the dog's pic. I don't know your area, but when I did airbrushing at the mall, parents would balk at the price of having thier child on a shirt, but pet owners never blinked.

Hi Jimmie,

He even has the "cowboy swagger" down! Thank you for the compliment, it feels good.

I know what you mean about the animal lovers, I've already had more paying dog commissions than I have people.

Jean

Jean, this turned out GREAT! You should be proud of yourself.
I love the dog also.

I can comment a little on the use of the designer house. I have done several in the past, the last one I did was a couple of years ago. I went after the designer that had the living room and she ended up putting a 30"x40" portrait of my son over the mantle. I couldn't have asked for better exposure, he was hard to miss and I was told by the various girls that manned the room that more people commented on that than any other thing in the room, at which point they would make it a point to tell them I, a local artist, had done it. I can't say that I know of a SPECIFIC commission that I got from that, but I do know that it made a lasting impression. I just met someone the other day and was introduced as the girl that did the portrait in the designer house a couple of years ago and she immediately made the connection. I have run into that often. The interesting thing is that I had two portraits in that house, that big one and a smaller one up in a bedroom. I don't recall anyone really noticing that one. So my point is, go after someone that will give you a very visible spot.

About those animals, it is a strange thing isn't it? I just did our dog and my husband took it to the office, they all just HAVE to have one of their pets. Aren't these the same poor people that couldn't afford charcoal sketches of their grandchildren? :o

Thank you Mary, I think I'll start a thread on Parade homes in the business section.

The same thing happened with my husband and his business associates. I'm still waiting on two that started with dogs but have now progressed to the whole family, with the dog as a prominent member.

Jean