Purple Shirt
 

I have a hard time with titles (suggestions welcome), but here is a recent oil, started from life and finished from photos. 16 x 20.

closeups

What really catches my attention is her wonderfully attentive expression. I get such a strong impression that there is someone there in the room that is talking and she is so enjoying the listening end of it.

That impression doesn't mean that I have instantly hit upon a good title that goes with it however. But maybe my mentioning the observation might spark someone to the perfect one.

Just a few suggestions in that vein to perhaps get someone's creative juices flowing:
An Audience of One
Conversation
The Listener
Pleasant Company
Eavesdropping

Hi Julie, that's a camisole in fact.
You can try using a thesaurus to find words that associate with "purple"...for instance, this girl's portrait strikes me with a title "Lavender Beauty". Hope this helps.

Julie,

This looks really nice and soft. Maybe just a few things could be tweaked a bit.

Her nose seems to be shadowed a bit much on our right - the lit side. It looks like it should be catching more light. I think if you lighten it up the nose won't look as heavily modeled. Also, the shadowed side under her lip seems to be going a little too dark. As you look to adjust that value you might see that the shape of the lower lip could be adjusted. Also, the shadowed side of her cheek and jaw seem to have been trimmed a bit much and might go a bit fuller. See if you can't find some kind of darker value to place in the inside corner of her left eye to define it a little more. Hard to tell for sure without looking at the copy but I'll offer these few things for you to double check.

Tammy, thanks for the title suggestions. She was watching a movie on tv, and was so attentive that I had to tone it down some.

Marcus, thanks so much! I knew that type of top had a specific name, but I couldn't come up with it.

Mike, thanks for your observations. I will go back and work on some fixes. I didn't post the original photo because I was not striving to get a likeness. The objective for this piece was to explore values, edges, color and feeling. But your suggestions are dead on: I inadvertantly trimmed the face, let the local color of the nose influence the values, and overdid/underdid other values.

Julie,

I think you've succeed in your objectives. Your edges are very well done and the color harmony is very appealing, especially in the way you've handled the background. The light and dark of the background as you played it against the subject is very nicely done. No small accomplishment here.

Julie, this is a very pleasing composition in terms of color, and it strikes me that it is as much about the yellow wall as it is about the purple camisole. Maybe something about the yellow-violet contrast could lead to a good title. Just a thought.

I agree with Mike's critique, and would also add that a few really definite strokes when putting in the light around the nose might accentuate the focal point. I think that, as it is now, everything is soft and you need just a few light/edge accents.

Thanks, Mike. It's appreciated.

Yes, Alex, this is all about yellow and purple. It started off as a life study, and quickly demoralized me, because I could do nothing right on it. Something about working in my own home with a model and other artists friends present makes it harder, not easier, for me. I do a lot better away from home, working among strangers, for some reason. A psychological quirk? Anyway, I decided that - By Gum! - I was going to make it work, so took my time later with photos.

Right now the sharpest edge is the side of the chair, to bring it forward. I'll try those strokes to the nose along with the other changes and post later.

Okay, I've spent a few hours on a head that's 5 1/2 inches high, which I'm not used to, and I've just about had all I can stand. But it definitely is improved. The colors are a bit off from the original, but you can see the progress.

That last post was too overexposed. Here is a better idea of how it looks.

Julie,

I think everything looks much better. It's a very nice painting.

I believe I would vote to tone down the highlight on the nose a bit. Just one vote, touch screen, no paper trail here in Florida.

Thanks, Mike. For something that started as a simple exercise, this sure has given me trouble. The highlight does bring the nose forward, but it's a bit much, isn't it?

Julie, this looks promising. I like the light. She looks more three-dimensional. Because the color key has changed, it might be a good idea to post the entire painting, too, so we can see where you are headed, even if you've only worked on the head.

Is the light on her face cool because she is watching TV? That actually might be interesting in terms of the color scheme (i.e. can you convey this to the viewer without showing the TV screen?) But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm just saying that, if the light actually is cool, it could be used in the theme of the portrait, to your advantage. Of course if the light is not as cool as it looks in your photo, forget what I just said. This is not the only solution, obviously, and you may have something else in mind.

P.S. sorry, I didn't see you had posted the whole painting. I think it works and I like the highlight.

Thanks, Alex. I learned from this piece that small pieces are not for me - too tough to get things in their proper place. Currently that highlight is gone again, but I'll probably put a hint of it back. One goal was to try and simulate different distances from the viewer by controlling highlights, edges, strengths of colors. The original plan was to recede the head a bit compared to the body and hands. The highlight on the nose in the post above was a bit too bold to do that. I can't say that my plan was totally successful, but overall I like the results okay.

Dear Julie,

I completely agree - a lovely and restrained color harmony! I particularly enoy seeing your soft approach and the very compelling way you have communicated the color of the light and the way you have varied temperature throughout the skin tones.

Just a thought for the future - you might consider a composition wich doesn't truncate the fingers-. Thanks for posting this lovely piece.-

Thanks, Chris,

Julie, what a lovely painting, the softness of your touch shows through. You should be really proud of this one!

Gosh, this is terrific, Julie! You're really moving onward and upward......

Thanks, Ngaire and Michele. I got to take in Marvin Mattelson's 2 week workshop this past summer, and learned a lot. Glad you see a difference.