Anna at nine

Vianna Szabo · 08-24-2003, 11:28 AM

I painted this oil of my daughter Anna in three days. It is 11"x 14" and fits nicely on my scanner so what you see is not a scanned photo but the scanned original complete with all its bumps and globs. ( I had to clean the scanner afterwards!) I painted most of this from memory. I had a very bad reference photo and brief periods of time where she would sit for me. I really enjoyed not being a slave to the photo.

I would love to capture the light of the old masters paintings and am curious about the skin tones. Are the shadows too warm? How about the edges? Actually any critique would be appreciated.

Vianna

Jeff Fuchs · 08-24-2003, 06:05 PM

I didn't want to be the first to respond, but for some reason people seem to want to soak up this painting for a while before posting.

I think you've painted a lovely portrait, and the colors look like something from the Louvre. Her eyes are very nicely painted. You've included a minimum of detail, yet given maximum information. Bravo!

But I do see two problems. First, her ear looks rather large. You might want to double check it, and even if it's correct, it could use down-playing.

Second, the back of her head seems elongated. Look at the painting and try to picture the underlying skull. It seems a bit stretched out.

But I must say, I love your palette, brushwork, and expressive abilities.

Jeff

08-24-2003, 06:28 PM

Vianna,

She's lovely! The mood and set up are great. I like how you've captured her expression with such an economy of brushwork.

I'll second what Jeff said, and also the near eye and eyebrow seem a bit high compared with the angle of the mouth and nose.

Beautiful painting! I love the Old Master palette you're using.

Vianna Szabo · 08-24-2003, 08:03 PM

Thank you for your kind words, Jeff and Lisa. I appreciate your taking the time to critique. I agree the head is elongated. She likes to wear her hair bands pushed way back so I guessed at where the end of the head would be. She does have rather large ears and is sometimes teased about it. As her mother I think they are wonderful and make her unique. I do have a fondness for unusual features but it sometimes lands me in trouble with clients.

The palette I used was Daniel Greene's that he showed in one of the recent art magazines. I keep trying to paint the shadows without white but have not been successful so far. They tend to get muddy and do not have the fleshy feeling I want, any ideas about that? I have included the photo I used as a reference.

Thank you again for taking the time to critique. I really appreciate it.

Vianna

Jeff Fuchs · 08-24-2003, 08:13 PM

Quote:

She does have rather large ears and is sometimes teased about it.

Sorry if I put my foot in my mouth. I should have guessed you would say that.

When my wife and I were having a photo portrait made years ago, the photographer took pains to make sure Janice was seated, and I was standing. "We don't want it to look like she's taller than you" he said. Well she is taller than me. A lot taller. It never occurred to me to be portrayed any differently.

I'm just glad that Anna doesn't have an elongated head, as I'm sure you are.

Chris Saper · 08-24-2003, 11:45 PM

Dear Vianna,

I have been back to see this lovely little painting several times, and now that you post the source photo, here's my thought: your shadows are not too warm - but your lights should be cooler if you wish to honor the color temperature in the photo (cool light source), and indeed to capture Old Masters' lighting quality.

In either case, there should be temperature differences between light and shadow. Not everything in light will be uniformly cool, nor everything in shadow uniformly warm - the point is that there should be on overall sense of color temperature. Use the same priniciple in the clothing. The pattern of light and shadow should be continued in the jacket as well.

I like the soft feeling of your edges and color transitions. This was a really difficult photo to use, and you made some excellent choices in reinterpreting all those dark clumped values.

Linda Brandon · 08-25-2003, 12:30 AM

A lovely painting, Vianna. (I often use this kind of Vermeer lighting, too.) I like your edge control, soft in the shadow side and more crisp on the light side.

I think you need to show a darker value on the right side of the hood of her jacket. It doesn't read as being further away from the light source than the left side of her jacket.

Vianna Szabo · 08-25-2003, 08:10 PM

Hey Jeff Thanks for the laugh! I have often asked models to move an ear or an eye to match my drawing. I have not yet found one to comply.

Vianna

Vianna Szabo · 08-25-2003, 08:18 PM

Thank you Chris and Linda for your excellent advice. I painted this very quickly because I wanted to enter this in a show which a friend of mine is judging. I realized this week that I did not have any work that he has not seen so this was a " spur of the moment (or week)" painting. When I get the painting back from the show I will rework some areas that have been suggested. Thank you all for being my third eye.

Vianna