Ashley

[Garth Parker]

Ashley is an 11x14 oil on canvas, completed last weekend. I feel I captured her but with a couple of extra years added on, (she's 3). I did enjoy painting her.

Jerome
(Garth)

[Linda Brandon]

What a terrific face! My heart leaps when I see this, Jerome, because this is the way I like to paint hair, too. There's a lot to like in this painting - I especially like the way you have handled the various shadow edges (sharper cast shadow from hair) and the softer form shadow edges along the jaw.

The "problem"- and this is just my agenda, and it may not be yours - is that this is so very clearly painted from a photo and I personally prefer paintings to look as if they were painted from life. To do this in outdoor paintings you should try to reduce the light to shadow ratio so that the lights are not so light (no blown-out forms) and the shadow side has more fresh and lively color. Next time you take a photo try this: hang a sheet of gauzey curtain on a pole and filter the sunlight for the shot. Try different fabrics or even a clear garbage bag (thank you Tom Egerton for this tip) to get the ratio that you like. Most of all, spend a lot of time looking at what happens from life and seeing how colors bounce around and reflect on different surfaces.

[Garth Herrick]

Hi Garth,

I agree with Linda; what a terrific little face! There is a whole lot to like about this painting. The composition is great. Looking at the grayscale version I would swear I was looking at the photograph, so perfect is your capture! In color, it has a good bit of punch, but as Linda points out they are colors dictated by the photograph, and we can tell.

To be honest, I am in the same dilemma at this moment on a photo based portrait, and your little painting is far more successful than the other Garth's. But I am trying to get away from the photographic look. I spent an hour the other day just watching the kids I am painting as they played in the cool March sunshine. To look at them, the colors were fresh and vibrant, even in the shadows, which look nothing like the camera said they did. I will struggle on......

I had a little fun with your image in Photoshop. I don't know if there is any convincing point to make but I was trying to bring values closer together toward what might be seen in life..... well it still looks like a photo.... oh, well I just wanted to see what would happen. I like your original version as much.

Garth

[Michele Rushworth]

Nice photo manipulation example, Garth H.

I'm also struggling right now with photo reference that is SO contrasty that there's no room for any color in the lights or the darks. (The lights look pasty and the darks look cold and dead.) I'm reducing the contrast and cranking up the saturation of the reference photo a lot to get something that looks even sort of like living color to paint from.

I'm learning (the hard way) that strong lighting situations produce virtually unuseable reference, and that cameras do a much better job capturing accurate values and color in the gentle mid ranges of light.

[John Reidy]

Garth (Jerome) - you have a real talent for capturing color and values plus drawing. It is a treat to see your work.

I agree that your reference material is the only thing you need to improve. Once you get that I might break my brushes.

Great work.

[Garth Parker]

Thank you for your compliments and critiques.

It

[Michele Rushworth]

I seem to be attracted to excessive contrast.

You might want to study the work of artists like Caravaggio and others of the time who mastered the concept of chiaroscuro (light/dark). Now THEY were attracted to strong contrast ...and made heart stopping paintings too.

As for the reference photos provided by your client, you might want to post them under photo critiques and get some input from people on the Forum. (My general feeling is that nothing is so career limiting as painting from inferior reference.)