Anna

Garth Parker · 05-07-2005, 08:27 PM

Hi all,
I thought I'd paint something real big.... not

Anna is another small 11x14 Oil / Canvas.
The facial shadows posed a bit of a challenge for me.
Jerome

Chris Saper · 05-07-2005, 10:11 PM

Garth,

I just love your composition! And her fresh attitude.

A couple of comments:

The shadow cast by her nose on the cheek is probably too dark. Photos taken outside in direct light generally greatly compress the darks (and the lights). With that wonderful cast shadow, you have an opportunity to exploit the edge quality of the cast shadow, making its edge sharper toward the nose, and progressively softer as the shadow moves into the cheek.Same with that tiny triangle of light SW of her lower lip.

You might soften the line that comprises the mouth's corner on our right.

There are a few of tangents you can fix very easily: the place where the knot on the tree kisses the wisp of hair, and again where the same wisp connects with the upward crinkle of her shirt. Actually you could lose that crinkle, I think, without diminishing her body language. There is a dark triangle at the right of her neck on our right that connects rather lineally with the collar. By curving the hair, you could get rid of it pretty easily.

I feel you have really managed the shadows on our left side of the face very well. The darker values in the light - tree dapple; shadow along the edge of her neck on our right; lower cheek on our right; chin... seem to be a bit purple, and colder than they need to be...a desaturated green would probably do the trick, and not be as extreme a temperature difference.

Lastly, the shirt. It would be likely that it would throw a bit of reflected color up into the shadow of her jaw on our left. The reds of the shirt seem to be darkened in the shadows perhaps with black, which is a great cooling agent, but the shirt is not as integrated with the rest of the painting as it might be. You could desaturate the reds (in the shadows) with green to help integrate the surface colors. Lastly (I am getting fairly picky, hope you like picky, because I do when I get my paintings critiqued) the edges of the v neck of the shirt might be a bit sharp, and transition a bit abruptly with the creamy aspect of her throat.

All of that being said , I really like your portrait!

Garth Parker · 05-08-2005, 02:04 PM

Chris,
Thank you for another picky detailed critique.

I like your critiques and normally attempt to apply them to future projects. In this case I did go back and try some of the changes. The shadows seem to generate tones from the sky and clothes (Red and blue). Partly the reference and part my eye, I suppose. Her sweater is in a shadow and dull. It didn

Linda Brandon · 05-08-2005, 02:19 PM

Hi there Garth,

What colors are you using on your palette?

I have another whole set of nitpicks for you but I don't know if you really want them or not.

Garth Parker · 05-08-2005, 07:10 PM

Hi Linda,
This little canvas is already 1/2

Linda Brandon · 05-10-2005, 01:28 AM

Aarghhh! Not the palette, the Winton! Bad student stuff, your work is too good for this. Get the good stuff if at all possible, you will be amazed at the difference.( And get a good arm-held palette too.)

Here's what I think: you have really good painting and drawing skills and a strong affinity for outdoor work. Please work from life outdoors before you decide what colors to put on your palette. I vote for an impressionist palette. Don't try to make up something from your photos. The great beauty of outdoor light and shadow on human skin is the color complexity in the shaded side.

I don't like this photo because I don't think it would be a very attractive pose for a typical American family to choose for their child, and I want you to start painting work that will win them over to YOU. Think: happy, innocent, wistful, charming, free, fresh, all those adjectives beloved by Americans. I hate to write this but I think it's true. I am a big fan myself of "serious", even grim, children's portraiture but fresh and winsome generally takes the cake.

By all means keep this lovely portrait hanging around - you may have found your own style and have tons of buyers flocking to you and that would be terrific - but I think your next one should be more "commercial" in intent.

Garth Parker · 05-10-2005, 10:19 AM

Wow,
This is what most artists starting out or longing to improve are looking for here. With Chris

Michele Rushworth · 05-10-2005, 05:07 PM

Hi Garth,

I like the look of outdoor subjects in dappled sunlight. However every one that I've seen (and therefore the ones that I've done) has the dappling of the light and shadows on every part of the figure EXCEPT the face. Typically you'll see the face placed in complete shade. You can accomplish this by posing the subject under a tree or whatever and have someone else hold a piece of foam core casting a shadow across the subject's face. The randomly shaped shadows can come across as bruises, dirt or other skin discoloration and may make the painting less commercially viable, as Linda suggested.

Garth Parker · 05-11-2005, 10:05 AM

Hi Michele,
Thank you for your shadowing advice. The colors in the first post could be interpreted as bruises. I have the luxury of experimenting with most of my paintings. Consider this experiment a fishing expedition with no bites. Don

Rob Sullivan · 05-11-2005, 10:58 AM

I have to chuckle at Linda's reaction to the Winton paint. She's absolutely right - it's fairly lousy, and student-grade. I mean, freshman year art school student-grade. I concur again that your work deserves better.

The Winsor-Newton professional grade is a big step up, but it is not as good as it was 5 years ago. They seem to have changed the formula. I've been slowly converting out of these into Old Holland. Pricey, but way more pigment to vehicle in the mix ratio. Just to experiment, get a tube of Old Holland titanium white first, since it's not ridiculously expensive, and you'll see a massive difference in opacity, tinting strength and consistency.

Chris, Linda and Michele are dead on in their critiques of the piece, so I won't add anything for fear of redundancy. Be very grateful that this excellent trio have commented here; they are razor sharp in their insights - total pros. I know I'm grateful.

Lompoc? Is it really like how Rex Pickett descibes it?