[John de la Vega]

Hi Pam,

Amazing painting for only a year's worth of 'concentrated' experience. Good color, good form, good edges, lively brushwork, expressive treatment of personality.

Things that could be improved, in my view:

Mouth a bit too prominent, takes over expression, even with the lovely handling of the eyes. Her mouth could have that expression, seen from life or in a photo, but we sometimes need to de-emphazise for subtlety. Negative shape around figure not quite balanced, the right hand-side of painting too 'rectangular', takes on too much importance which, coupled with narrow left, squeezes the head and shoulders, imbalancing the perception.

I am impressed with the piece, regardless of how much time you have seriously devoted to painting.