Portrait Critique on background

[Renee Brown]

Michelle,

Hi. I create them myself with the cooperation of local libraries and businesses who are open to exhibiting artists work. I live on Long Island in New York and the communities out here are very pro-active regarding artists and promoting their work.

I sell my landscapes of children on the beach out of Gallery North, East Setauket, NY, during two seasonal shows but there aren't too many galleries around here willing to get involved with portrait commissions. I call all the art leagues and local libraries (we have many in my region) and send in samples of my work and they give me specific months to display my portraits.

I hang about twenty pastel and oil portraits of pets and people and on a pedestal I place a guestbook, business cards and brochures with pertinent contact information. I always acquire new commissions in this manner.

I am currently using the HP200c digital camera. I can shoot a photo of my painting in my studio and have it up on my website in three minutes. I use adobe 2.0 to edit my photos (trim and resize) and adobe 5.5 LE to try out new compositions and colors when creating a new painting. I intend to upgrade eventually to a better camera but all my photos on my website were shot with the HP200c: http://www.LongIslandFineArt.com

E-Bay is currently selling this camera for around $150., the best price I have seen. It originally retailed for $300. Btw, I recently saw photos printed off the computer using the HP1000 colorsmart printer (my next purchse). Looked just like prints! Hope this helps. Renee

[Renee Brown]

Dear Chris, Karin, and Paul, I have eight of my portrait samples done for my upcoming monthly rotating shows in 2002,( in addition to three commissions in progress) and originally the portrait I posted here was intended to be in that show. You know I submitted it because I wasn't happy with it. Well, after you all generously critiqued it, I redid the background, changed the flesh colors and made the flowers more delicate ( less is more). Then, I pulled the canvas off the stretchers and cropped and restretched it. So, Karin, cropping was your suggestion, and I thank you for that. Chris, I added cool colors in the shadows and it made a big difference and Paul, I took your suggestions about photography and lighting as well. So, here is the finished product. Not perfect but much improved and at least it will make it into the show. Thank you to all of you. This forum is terrific.

Renee

[Pam Phillips]

I visited your website and I particulary liked the portrait of Reisling, the yellow lab. I think the pose and the background combine very well. I have been trying to photograph a relative's labs, and they don't want to cooperate well enough to get their whole body into the picture (in an attractive way), and what you captured is a very good solution.

[Renee Brown]

Pam,

Thank you for the compliment on "Riesling". He doesn't even show his best on the web. My digital camera picks up every color. His blanket is much more cohesive in person and it is not nearly as blue as shown. Plus, I still have that photographic glare problem in the upper left. In person, the background is very dark and the dog leaps out (kind of).

Okay, here's how I do the photography session. I meet with the client and subject around 2:30pm on a sunny day. The owner becomes the handler and I ask that another person, that the dog is familiar with, help out . That second person stands behind me and distracts the dog and gets his ears up. The owner holds the dog (and this is very important) on a choke chain. That is the only way to control the dog's head and have a quick and successful photography session. The fact that the owner is the handler eliminates any unforeseen problems (like biting- ouch!)

I just took in a five Samoyed family commission (heads only ). It took three rolls of film to get five excellent shots. I use a Canon Rebel 2000 plus my digital camera. Get the dog to sit, stand, and don't forget a bench if you're doing full-body shots. Hope this helps you. Secondly, I want to thank everyone who posted advice for me. Ever since I found "Stroke of Genius", I have learned so much. I have totally changed my lighting and now have good source material.

I also bought Chris Saper's new book, "Painting Beautiful Skin Tones With Color and Light" and I cannot say enough good things about it. It is a great book.

Here's the newest portrait I am working on (not finished yet and the flowers are just getting started). As you can see, it is a big improvement from the original one that is critiqued on this thread (which by the way, got pulled from my portrait tour in favor of better paintings). So, thanks to you all.

Renee Brown

[Pam Phillips]

So that's how to manage dogs! Thanks for the description of your procedure, I think that will do the trick. I do like your current portrait-- I think bright sunshine on a figure is very interesting.