Anna at nine

[Chris Saper]

Dear Vianna,

I have been back to see this lovely little painting several times, and now that you post the source photo, here's my thought: your shadows are not too warm - but your lights should be cooler if you wish to honor the color temperature in the photo (cool light source), and indeed to capture Old Masters' lighting quality.

In either case, there should be temperature differences between light and shadow. Not everything in light will be uniformly cool, nor everything in shadow uniformly warm - the point is that there should be on overall sense of color temperature. Use the same priniciple in the clothing. The pattern of light and shadow should be continued in the jacket as well.

I like the soft feeling of your edges and color transitions. This was a really difficult photo to use, and you made some excellent choices in reinterpreting all those dark clumped values.