Two weekend paintings
 

I am so appreciative of any feedback....

Friday night: I painted my baby in her bonnet in 1.5 hours. I was experimenting with a new technique, of beginning in the center with her eye and working my way outward, finishing as I go along. 10 x 10

Saturday: I painted my mother from life. This one was difficult, as my poor mom has Bell's Palsey and is very uncomfortable with the way she looks....I think you can see her vulnerability. The likeness is exact, but I am not sure about the painting as a whole. There are some things I really like about it. I am not sure if it is finished. 20 x 24.

Thanks, everyone!
-Mara

Dear Mara,

I think you have had a very successful weekend! The painting of your mom has lovely soft color transitions and nicely handled edges in the head and shoulders.

It's awfully hard to critique a piece painted from life, because there are so many factors that are not always within the painter's control - for example, the physical comfort level to sit for a long day.Shorter multiple sittings might give you more freedom to provide movement to the composition - some spiraling to the direction of the face and shoulders so that they are not so square on.

The observations I would include the inclusion of a shadow under the chin, so the raking light looks more consistent across the form. I like the blue orange color harmony you have established, although I think the stung color saturation in the shawl would benefit by being much more subdued, as would the edges. Was she actually wearing the shawl or did you add it later? It also needs a light and shadow pattern that relates to that on your mother's face.

The main comment I have about your baby (OK, the second main comment, the first being that she is beautiful:)) is that you are using a source phtograph that appears to have been taken with an on-camera flash, so that the forms are flattened. I am sure she is a captive subect, so to speak, so you should have many opportunities to phtograph her in natural light or with a directional artificial light.

Good luck!

Chris, thank you so much for taking time out to give me a good critique! I agree with everything you observed about both weekend paintings. And yes, I knew the source photo of my baby wasn't very good :( I don't know why I picked it - it was late and I was anxious to paint something right then and there.

There are a lot of issues with my mother's portrait. It is weird, but to me it looks like I painted it from a photograph. I believe I was in a hurry and missed some critical shadows, as you pointed out under the chin and in the scarf. Yes, she was actually wearing the scarf, but I failed to make it look like it fits in the picture. I will go back and re-work those.

Thanks so much.
Mara