I am the master of bad photo references
 

Eureka, she's got it! Thanks Mike, I think you've nailed the problem I've been trying to solve. It just never looked right, like he wasn't really in the sun or in the foreground. Changing the palette felt better but still didn't solve the major problem. Steve will be back with ambient light, and this will be my last attempt at jerryrigging references.

Jean

Scumbling along
 

Well, here he is with some major revisions. Jeans, shirt, foreground, skin, there is some glare on the left from wet paint. He's finally starting to look like he's in the sun.

Thanks Mike!

Jean

Steve gets a face lift
 

I had Noah's portrait out next to Steve's and came down to the studio/dining room Wed morning realized how much I hated this protrait of Steve. I attacked the canvas, determined to start having fun instead of pulling my hair out. This was not a portrait of Steve but was a man with a landscape and I didn't really know what to look at.

This is what I came up with. I'll be putting the real shadows back in (have started already), adding the smoke wafting up will complete the painting and now I'm having fun!

Jean

ps--- There is glare on the photo due to wet dark paint, I'll have a better photo later as it dries.

I like this a lot better.

Jean - I am amazed at your persistance to get just what you want! I grow bored with paintings and 'settle' at times so I can get on to the next one. If I re-work paintings too much I seem to ruin them.

I like it Jean. Focusing in on just him is where the "fun" is....I can tell. Really like the dark, loose background.

Here's my 2

Hi all,

Geary, that's where I'm going with this, you nailed it! What is the "Canvas" program, is it Mac compatable? I'll look around for it.

Kim, it's just paint. When I'm bored with a painting, it means that I need to leave it alone for a while. Sometimes I wake up in the morning, just knowing what I need to do and then attack. "Steve" didn't work, it was boring and he is not a boring person. I tried to give him a gift of serenity, if he wants I'll paint him a landscape. ;)

Thanks Michele, your stamp of approval means a lot to me.

Hi Jean,

You're welcome....and YES Canvas is a great program I've been using right along side of Adobe and Corel for years and years. And, I think it actually originated for mostly Mac users. Don't quote me on it, though. It's available cross platform. Btw, I've been an Apple guy since Illustrator 88.

It's made by Deneba and is now owned by ACD System ...here it is....http://www.deneba.com/

It's a really cool program. It has the best of the tools presented in Photoshop, Illustrator or Corel in one. The price is nice, too. I've got Canvas7 and am trying out the Demo 9 for OSX. Learning curve is similar to Corel coming from Adobe's stuff and they have all the online tutorials and built in lessons you need to operate it.

Gear

I'll try the trial for "Canvas 9" when I have the time to play with it. I already have "Photoshop Elements" and don't have a clue how to use it but I may take a course this summer from another area artist. The problem is that I would rather paint than learn how to use a computer program. I still have mega learning left on my camera, and consider myself in the "intermediate" level of painting so I put frustrating things on the back burner. I have a love/hate relationship with computers.

Jean

Steve goes to the show
 

I lived through the reception tonight! One of the paintings I displayed was "Steve". Since Steve is a carpenter (home remodeling and additions) he decided to build his own frame. He's been hoarding some old cedar boards for a few years now and used them for this massive frame. I apologize for the quality of this photo, it's really very dark on the lower right and I couldn't seem to focus at all. Steve came to the reception tonight and was accosted by a group of people asking if he was in fact "Thee Steve"!!! He had fun and I was relieved.

Jean

Now all I have to do is get through Noah's demo tomorrow and I'll be able to breath again. Plan to spend the afternoon in the whirlpool!