Study in oil
 

22" x 30" from photos I took on site with a velvetine draping, window light from the right, and new "reveal" light from the left.

Close up of face
 

. . . original does not have the brownish hue that is apparant in this image on the viewers left side of face. I will double check after seeing this post.

and hands
 

I have more work to do on this, I can see that right now. I always see things after posting. Sorry the image is so crooked and poorly photographed. It really looks like crap here.

OOH!
 

Lon, Im not qualified to critique..but this is my favorite one you have posted! nice! :thumbsup:

Lon, I agree this is the best work you have shown. I like the composition very much. If you would allow a couple of nit picks they would be this: the color of the hair being either the same or very close to that of the blouse is a little distracting to me. Maybe if you brought the hair either up or down? And you might check out the modeling of the bridge of the nose. I like this very much.

Thank you, Mary!

Mike, I quite agree.

I will check the viewer's left eye for the dark line out to the left, and the slightly darker glaze of flesh tone on the viewer's left side of the face. THe background is supposed to be all the same tone except for the highlights, but I think the vermilion needs varnishing. Amazing how the digital camera picks up on things like that. Also, the yellow values really have less chartreuse. It is more creamy.

I used walnut oil as a medium, which, I was told, is very slow drying. Not true. The alkid, maybe, but this stuff is dry in two days, and dries too flat. I will try the new Gamblin product next time. I am not happy with Graham's walnut oil.

Lon, just one more tiny thing. The bottom of the sleeve on the viewers right. This may be the sharpest line in the painting. Maybe rounding this off would be best?

Hi Lon,

I really like this one! I like the atmosphere, the pose. But since you have posted this in the 'portrait critiques'-section, a few comments.

Mike is right about the modelling of the bridge of the nose.

My feeling is that the roses are a bit too light, it distracts the attention from the face a little too much this way. Perhaps making them a little darker would help ?

Another observation, on the (for us) right side of her face there is the shadow of the hair and on the right side of that shadow where the skin becomes lighter again it seems that it becomes too much of a line, my feeling is that it would be more harmonic if this line of light is somewhat darker.

The shadow in her neck of her blouse seems quite sharp. Maybe making the edge of the shadow a little softer would be better?

Something is bothering me about her shoulder on the (for us) left. The shoulder that is in the shadow. I'm not sure but my feeling is that something is not right about that shoulder. As if it extends too much to the left. Maybe you can check the photograph you used.

Greetings,
Peter

Mike, great idea regarding the sleeve. I also may glaze the sweater darker after it is thoroughly dry.

Peter, great ideas! I will execute them. I had trouble posting the photo, as it was a Corel composit and I had trouble converting it to a JPEG with any degree of resolution. The roses were shot apart from the model with the same drape and lighting. I have already toned the roses down twice, and maybe third time is the charm. I do want them to be in the backgroung. They were quite bright at first.

I highly regard your critiques, your mastery and your generosity! It is highly motivating and educational.

Can't wait to varnish this bugger. It is really drying unevenly, and appears to be splotchy until it all dries. No more walnut oil for me. I did not enhance the image, as it was already hotter than original, and not quite true.

Again, thank you, Mary, Mike and Peter. (Sounds like a folk singing group!)

Lon,

This too is one of my favorites that you've posted. I really like the way you handled the sweater. As I wrote in my last post, knowing when to stop working on a painting is the tough part. My first impressions of the painting is wow, what a nice painting. So good luck...

Dear Lon,

This is a beautiful painting, and it also my favorite of those you have shared. The drawing is beautiful. The pose is so restful and solid, and the hands are so beautifully rendered, up to the level of the entire piece.

Finding things to critique is a stretch, and I have only two comments. Subject to the limits of my monitor, it seems to me that the colors in both light and shadow are equally cool, and that the colors in shadow are darker versions of the color in light. If it were me, I would choose a temperature for the light, (you could probably go either way with the light source), and let the hues run to the opposite temperatures in shadow. Generally I would expect to be seeing a lot of greens in blond hair in shadow.

My only other comment, is that the brass knob on the table seems to be too light in value, or perhaps too sharp in edge so that it jumps out of the shadow.

Wonderful piece!
Chris

I think the comments are worth consideration. I think you've got a comfortable feel from the subject and the hands are nicely done. Can't wait to see it "adjusted". One point that's not been mentioned that I first noticed is the length of the femur. It seems too long. Everything else seems really well drawn.

What a compliment from such a masters! Regarding the femur, she is over six feet tall. But perhaps I goofed with the chop in the photo patch - it is two photos patched together. I actually did have more green in the sweater and hair, but I did not like it, and redid it to be all sharing the magenta cool theme throughout. I don't know why. Just went that way. The tone of the photo demanded it. The "devil made me do it."

Oh, now that I see your photo, you have made your beautiful subject even more so! She must be so thrilled.

As to color, I would probably have gone WARM in those shadows, and actually use the color of the roses in the sweater in shadow.

My compliments to you.

Chris

I will revisit this painting as soon as the morogar dries!!!! Great comments. Will try it!

It is really helpful to critique given the reference photo--thanks for posting it. I can agree that the light is cool (from a window??) and that the shadows are warm... (GREAT book, Chris, by the way, I hadn't previously seen daylight broken down into the kelvin scale).

You're all great teachers here!

By "shadows' are you refering to the pinker secondary lighting on the shadowed side of the face? It was my intention to show the warm pink light on the viewer's left side of the face. I have since increased the warn pink color on that side of the face since this post. I agree - the warm light from the left creates the pink light on that side of the face. Not sure how to fascilitate that in the sweater. I may do a glaze to bring the tone down on the sweater, and perhaps then I will see if I can add some of that rose color. Thank you so much for looking and for your good critiques. I could never get any better critiques than here!

Hi Lon,

I wasn't sure if you were directing your question to me (that's never stopped me from jumping in before, so why stop now). By shadow, I mean everything not struck by light (your primary light source). My monitor just doesn't show any warm color in the cheek on (our) left, so I don't have benefit of seeing what you see. Since I have never used glaze I couldn't begin to advise you on it...if I were to paint integrating warm tones into the sweater, I would typically work wet-into-wet, and use some of the sweater color as a base and just mix into it what ever reds/oranges/yellow I had used for the flowers, then in this case, probably 'hit' the upward planes of the sweater with strokes of the warmed color. (Upward since these are the planes that would pick up reflected color. I would also warm the downward facing planes of the roses with some of the sweater color.) Of course the values need to be in control to retain the integrity of the shadow.

Chris

P.S. Thanks, Mari!

I had more yellow in the roses, but I took it out to play down the roses o a mistake. I think I will add it back in. Thanks!!!

Hi Lon,

thanks for posting the photograph. Don't change too much of the painting after what I say now, but I think that the two photographs you used to put together, the roses and the girl are two different worlds. The roses seem quite large in the collage and the lighting-situation is very bright when you compare them to the figure of the girl.

The colors of the girl in the photo seem also very blue-ish. But I don't know wehther that's also the case with the original print which you scanned in (or is this a digital image?). I corrected the colors a little bit.

Another remark which I would like to make. When you compare the photograph with the painting you seem to extend the forms in the vertical direction. Just something which can be useful to know.

Greetings,
Peter

I retract
 

Never mind about the femur. I'm quilty of expecting cliche' sizing when it's the variations in people that make us all different-w/o these, portrait painters would be out of work. Sorry.

Love that lighting
 

This is my first post as I have been busy reading and studying the technical pages. I just discovered this whole site last week and am getting into portrait painting after years of landscape, still life and fighting my true love, painting the portrait. I have so much to learn and am presently searching for the right workshop with the right teacher for me and for this summer no less.

This composition is wonderful and the lighting is magnificent. The only thing I can find is the bridge of the nose (as someone else mentioned) and the lips seem a bit too flat and dark. I may be very wrong because I truly have not gone to your site to check your other portraits for a handle on your style. I just think the lips are a little dark for the rest of her face. Also, it could be the flatness of the computer image itself fooling my eye. Regardless, it is a beautiful work and I love the cabled sweater also!

Thank you, Denise, for your kind comments! I am puzzled with this JPEG stuff, because it does tend to handle paint strokes and colors a lot strange. The nose looks OK in the painting, and the lips are not as dark. I struggled with the digital look of the painting, and find myself painting for the camera these days! It really puts a spin on the colors, but it is like looking at your work in the mirror. You somehow can see what is wrong. But you have to stop somewhere.

Welcome to SOG. I have been here two months, and it inspired me to paint again after years of only drawing.

Beautiful! Great comments on a lovely painting... My only comment regards the lips which both look quite dark.... Is it possible that the lower lip is lighter, especially on the light side?

Your client will be delighted for sure!

I know, the lips are very very dark, but she uses that color. The highlights do not show up in the JPEG. I will take another look, however, since you mention it. I highly respect your eagle eye!

I really like your use of color in this painting. There is an atmospheric quality that is not quite real, and I like it. You could make it more "photographic", but I feel that it would destroy that quality that I have mentioned. It's almost Impressionistic. I like the roses that mimic the color in her face. I would describe this as more of an interpretation than a traditional portrait. It's a lovely, well balanced composition. Excellent light.

Lon,

I'm a new member. I like it very much, just a suggestion about the lips, I think they are a bit too dark. Maybe soften them a bit and lighten the color.

Alicia

Thank you all for your kind encouragement! You motivate me more than anything in recent years to paint. I relish the critiques, and I am glad for a chance to learn in this environment. I am quite isolated here in Eugene from any serious portrait artists. It is like I am not the big frog or the little frog in the pond - rather, the only frog. :)

Lon,

I absolutely love the work you've done with the hands! They look wonderful.

My only critique, and I think some others might have caught on to this as well, is that the side of the face in the shadow looks to be a little flat. Now, I know it appears to be this way in the photo, but it's just an illusion. If you zoom in on the photo in photoshop you'll see that there is a great deal of depth in the color and shading of that part of her face. If you could replicate that subtlety, I think her face would turn out as well as you've executed the hands.

:) John

Thank you for your insightful input!

The secondary warm light is the focus of the left side of the face, and I thought to keep the colors simple so as not to distract from the play on color from cool on the right to warm on the left. However, I will have a look at the photo close up as you advise.

The work is done, however, and though I could do more, I have learned that it is good to leave off before you start down the slippery slope to overworking.

I tried to fiddle with it, but, alas! Tragedy.