Almost done, please critique

[Linda Ciallelo]

After much struggle, I believe I have ascertained my style and procedure. I am quite pleased with this and "know" how I did it, so hopefully I will be able to do it again. It's almost done. I would be grateful for any criticisms or comments that come to mind. Thank you.

[Renee Price]

Hi Linda,

This is very well drawn and proportionate! The hands are done very well. It looks like you have a strong light source coming in from our right. The skin tone seems too cool and pale in the light areas. And the reflected light on your left cheek is almost the same value as the light areas.

I love the colors you've used in the white shirt. I would like to see more of a difference between your left shoulder and the shirt going back. Right now it looks like they are on the same plane. Your left shoulder needs to come forward more.

Good job overall! I hope this helps.

Renee Price

[Linda Ciallelo]

Thank you Renee,

I agree on your criticisms. I have been learning how use oil , instead of pastels. I have had a problem using color. In an effort to solve my problem, I theorized that I would start with only three colors (vermillion, yellow ochre, black); when that was successfully accomplished, I would add a few more close colors to my palette, etc.. This is the third painting that I did in my succession. I realized half-way through that I should add cadmium orange, or mars orange to my palette. If I had added it sooner, the flesh would have been better. But I didn't want to go back into it for fear of messing up what was already there. The new color for this painting was mars violet. I'm also getting used to using black, a color that I never used with pastels. I am using black in place of blue and having good results. Black is my cool color.

I posted this prematurely because I was so excited that it was finally working. I will work on it some more. Here is the photo that I am working from. I used my homemade flourescent light bank for this photo.

[Chris Saper]

Dear Linda,

Lovely job. I have only a couple of comments. First, coming from a believer in limited palettes, do not apologize for the number of colors you use, just be sure they are the right ones to give you the range in color and value you need for the painitng at hand. Anders Zorn painted with 4 colors, period. There is a lot of basis to the school of thought (certainly with regard to pastels - Doug Dawson teaches this approach) that you should begin with the fewest number of colors, then add only as you find necessary to improve the work.

I see your color harmony as a beautifully restrained red-green scheme, and that your light source is cool in nature.

The only suggestions I have address drawing and shadows. Regarding drawing, the head is a bit too large for the shoulders and hands. As a result, it looks a little like you have had to squeeze the composition onto a canvas slightly too small. Even though there is a lot of foreshortening, I base this on my measurements of comparative size between hands and face, on both the photo and the painting.

The second comment I have is regarding shadow unity. The differences you have in your painting between shadow and light are subtle, so you need to be very clear in the way they are separated.

To keep (our) left side of the face in shadow, the reflected light needs to be darker in value, throughout, than the lighted side. The shadow unity also falls apart a little bit in (our) left corner of the mouth where the nasal-labila fold meets the lip. You could very easily correct this. The shoulder in light could also benefit from more value, as well as temperature, separation.

The hands are beautifully rendered. Overall, your style appeals greatly to me. It reminds me a little of the 20th century Taos painters.

Best wishes.

[Lon Haverly]

I like it, too, very much.

My only little stickler is the drawing of the eyes. They are not on line with the eye axis. If you imagine an arc through the eyes lining up the ends through the tear ducts, you would see that the ducts are not on line. Some people's eyes are not symetrical. However, the reference shows that her eyes are.

Also, the top lip seems a bit long.

[Linda Ciallelo]

Thank you for your comments. You are right about the eye. That eye has bothered me for awhile. I already fixed the lid, but now that you mention it, I can see that the bottom edge is off also. I will work on it. Thanks.