Hello All,
It's been quite some time since I've written here. The Forum has really taken off and has a life of it's own! Why I am writing is I wanted a critque on a protrait that I did a while ago but never really got any feedback on. It was not a commissioned piece and was a "freebie" for a friend. The friend loved it, however I never really bounced ideas off of other artists and got "artistic" feedback on it.
I find this portrait to be a milestone as it is the first portrait that I've created from several different sources to include photos, life sketches, jewelry and dress studies, and even a hairstyle from a magazine! It was quite an experience and challenge to pull all of these elements together and make it work. Normally I'd work straight from a photo or from life and what you see is what you get. However, this was a new challenge that required more planning on my part and forced me to pay attention to the whole picture, in all stages, rather than just following the photo and have all the answers there before me.
What I found to be a success was moving the sitter to a new place within the piece. The sitter wanted a Victorian look while she normally wears jeans and a sweatshirt! I've never seen her in a dress, let alone with makeup on, so that was a challenge. She did put on a gown and model for an hour so I could get a few drawings of her hands, shoulders, and arms (while holding a teddy bear - her daughter wouldn't sit still).
Rather than post all of the source photos and sketches here, they can be viewed on my
website.
Any and all comments are welcome. Thank you.