[Cynthia Daniel]

First of all, I see a lot of talent in your portrait and a tremendous ability for detail! So, my points are more refinements than anything else.

To communicate the concepts, I captured your portrait and did some adjusting with my graphics program. I assume the photographing and scanning process rendered the image more blue than in the actual painting. But, because of the slant towards blue, the first thing that hit me was it felt rather cold.

But, the thing that bothers me more is the background which I feel competes with the subject because (a) too much detail and (b) it could be darker to help the subject be more the focus. I managed an Austrian portrait painter for 6 years and he always painted more detailed in the face, less detail as he moved away from the face since that is the most important part of the portrait.

I've inserted here the image I adjusted. Obviously my blurring and darkening of the background is just with a graphics program and meant to communicate a concept and mood. I especially feel that the light area above her head and to the lower right of her cheek and jaw tends to fight with her face.

I sized the image down to 400 pixels high which we ask to be the maximum either height or width...but it's easy to miss!