Jean,
I know nothing about color except that viewing both of your paintings, I definately like this one better. You were BRAVE to wipe of what you had done and it looks to me like it was for the best Can't wait to see it finished!

BTW Adorable little boy!! :)

Yes Pat, it was hard, so I decided to just wipe off the background. I went outside and sat on the ground and started gently rubbing on the background, then got into it, took a wet rag and went at it. If I would have known how easy it was I would have done it sooner. I was most surprised to see my drawing emerge. I figured it would be lomg gone!

Jean

I like this better too.

I'm ready to call this done. Thanks every one for the suggestions, Nick modeled today for the final touches. I'm still not happy with the drawing (Nick's drawing) but I have another project coming up that I need to work on. If I do this again I will paint it as there was detail I couldn't do with pastel.

Jean

Oh, this is so nice!

Thank you Michele! :sunnysmil

There is no comparison between this and the first one. Thanks to all of you for helping me track down and see a major problem I've been having (the cool shadows). I should have known better. I don't think I'll ever make the same screw-up again. More from life and less from inaccurate print-outs.

Jean

Jean,

This IS so much better! I clicked back and forth between the original and this one to see how much better this is, vis-a-vis the color and drawing.

Sargent, it is reported, would do over a head a dozen times until he acheived the desired result. Whistler would scrape down a whole days work if he did not think it worked. Some of his portraits would take up to 200 hours to do. Whistler's painting , "Miss Cicely Alexander" took over 70 sittings.

This painting of Miss Alexander also shows what can be done with a subtle palette.

Hi Sharon, that portrait is really amazing. All the attention is drawn right to her face with the use of such a subtle palette. I found myself looking around to take in the whole thing then resting right back on her face. That's an interesting way to direct the eye.

I flipped back and forth between the two versions of my painting too, and couldn't believe the difference in both drawing and color. It looks much more like him too! I'm very lucky to have such a willing model available.

I really appreciate all your suggestions and headbanging too!

Jean

Jean, it looks great! So much better!

Thanks Kim! Are you getting any sleep???

Jean

I'm trying Jean. :sunnysmil