Portrait of little girl

Brian McDaniel · 07-15-2002, 01:46 AM

Here is one of my latest portraits. It is my daughter at age 2, 24x30 oil on canvas.

I thought it turned out OK, and my wife liked it a lot (and she can be my harshest critic at times). What do you folks here think about it?

Brian McDaniel · 07-15-2002, 01:51 AM

Here is a close-up of her face.

Lon Haverly · 07-19-2002, 01:13 AM

Who dares to critique a labor of love? Here goes.

It is a very soft and tender subject, but the color scheme and the composition do not do it justice.

The predominent colors, red and green, are very intense. Green makes red look more red. The yellow just amplifies it. There could have been much more in the way of introducing colors which tone down the reds and greens, such as violets and purples perhaps, as you began to do in the background. Red is very difficult to render in large quantities, and requires some very delicate and careful planning in order to pull it off and avoid a color burn out.

The girl is centered. The shed is centered behind the girl. The yellow foreground flowers do not help to offset them, neither does the background. This creates a composition dilemma which prevents me from enjoying these elements of the composition.

You have spent alot of time on this painting in the detail of the portrait. Perhaps a little more time in the preliminary sketches for the composition would have paid off big.

I hope my comments do not keep you from enjoying this rendering of your little girl!

Brian McDaniel · 07-21-2002, 02:23 AM

Ya know, now that youve mentioned it, that IS what has bothered me all along about this painting. I should've just moved the shed over to her shadow side, (allowing the highlight side of the shed to be behind her shadow side of the face) and let the dark fence go against the highlight side of her face.

I knew the reds would be pretty overpowering in this. Although it doesnt show up here, almost all of the dark areas up in the trees have a lot of red in them. In fact, most all the shadow areas of the background have a lot of red in them. There is red brushed through much of the grass too, it just doesnt seem to show here.

I also tried to push as much green as possible through her dress to help tone down the reds.

But none of that really bothered me too much. Its having that shed directly centered behind her that bothered me. I just couldnt put my finger on it til you pointed it out.

Thanks for the help. I always intend to learn something from every painting I do.

ReNae Stueve · 07-21-2002, 07:01 PM

I love this. The creamy texture amazes me. It's the shed. Not having ever seen your reference photo is a good thng. I can imagine where the shed really is. There is a garden bed running behind her and its angle sets your daughter up even more as the focal point, but the shed is sitting in the line askew. I picture it against the fence wall an the left. Facing south (with the sun west) the door at this angle would be in muted shadow and the shed much smaller, push it back into the corner. You can do this fix without messing her up at all. I really love your way with the fluid look.

Brian McDaniel · 07-22-2002, 01:34 AM

Thanks for your kind words ReNae. Its funny, when I look at the close-up pic, I like this painting. When I look at the whole thing I don't. My fix would be to slide that shed over to the left. It would then also help to point the viewer at the child's face. The dark fence behind her highlight side would help it pop out even more.

Ahhh, isn't hindsight always so crystal clear? Live and learn. Just don't make the same mistakes too many times in a row.