Linda,

You're right it would change the story somewhat. It's interesting to me how a picture can convey different things to different people. To me the direct eye contact conveys confidence, not necessarily confrontation. If you can make people stop, linger and wonder about the story, this is a good thing.

This could be a good story regardless which way the eyes go. One thing for sure, it would be much easier painting the eyes as is.

So Beth you've got 3 days, ready start.

Get the camera out again!
 

Scrooge here!

What a delicious subject and color! OOH! Great background color, great with gown,what a fabulous opportunity!

A. Lose the gloves, burn them so you won't be tempted, they are way too strong.

B. Take advantage of your daughter's exquisite oval face, shoot straight on.

C. Shoot the whole thing straight on, play the oval of her face against against the square of her neckline, think Holbein's Anne of Cleves.

D. Pose her like Sargent's Miss Amy Vickers, the oval of her face will be repeated by the oval form of the arms. You can use this pose to show off the drape of the silk.

E. Or pose her like Sargent's Mrs. Gardner, only hands off to the side a little bit gathering up her dress, again to show off the texture of the silk.

F. Both poses, shoot higher so you don't see under the chin. In a standing pose, it is always wise to have your subject tuck their chin under, not so much as to add a roll of skin, the trick is to find just the right height of the lens. Seated figures are shot better with an 80mm lens, standing figures 50mm or 80mm. Shoot sitting figures higher than standing ones.

G. Additional touches. Add large 4" or 5" flower, same color as dress to the neck on a ribbon. Put a large colorful dark red ring on her finger the same side as the flower, her left side would be best.

H. When you design a portrait you have to consider many things, related shapes, design balance, color, tiny details that can make or break a picture.

Hope this helps,

Three addendums
 

Beth,

A. The chair is wrong. The shape, the color, the material. Too informal. In one of my portraits, a young girl on a pink chair, I found that chair and painted it to repeat the pink in her dress and flower, also to provide a complemetary counterpoint to the green background. No detail, even a seemingly minor one should be left to chance. I sometime take weeks and weeks to get all the details right, do thumbnail sketches, look for props, so when I go to shoot I know what I am after. Usually it goes very smoothly.

B. Add a great deal more rouge to her cheeks than you think proper, they always wash out and when you go to do the painting both from life and the photo it somehow works.

C. When you go to paint her look up my 8 head formula in one of the threads, it will make her look less chubby, which I see she is not by the last photo.

Sincerely,

Thank you all for this great input! I just really loved the colors in this one and the subject matter too! I must admit we took these very quickly to get her out the door and see now that I could have spent more time with the compostition. I asked her to sit again, and she said "NO WAY", then I said "Okay, I'll get Amanda to do it!" (her older sister) well that changed her mind!

Sharon, I think you must have done some photo styling with all the fashion illustration! ;)

Now you'll have to take me to the furniture markets too! My house is very southwestern and that is one of the more formal chairs I own. I hope the pink chair is on your site so I can go see it. Or could you link it here?

I forgot to tell you when I looked a the bolts of velvet fabric, ouch it was so expensive, that I cheated and purchased this faux Ultra Suede, I think it works for $3.00 a yard!

Regarding the first post of suggestions, I spent forever going through my books and the internet, and the following is all I could find by Sargent. None that exactly matched your titles, I threw Lady Agnew in their because it is my favorite. Are these close to what you were thinking about?

I'll also post Holbein's Anne of Cleves.

If anyone has the right portraits, could you please post them, I am thinking the ones above may not be them.

Here is Holbein's Anne of Cleves:

I meant Miss Elsie Palmer!
 

Beth,

I am sorry, that was the one I meant, the Holbein and the Mrs. Gardner are correct. The little girl in the pink wire chair is on my site.

On one portrait I did, I hired a florist, makeup artist and a photographer. I bought velvet to change the stairwell color, and bought and antiqued a 4' urn. You have to be a stylist.

I don't have the time to go into what I am presently doing on my own work but it is suitably nuts. I can't post the last 7' pastel ballet picture because she is nude on top. Genteel they ain't!

You could also stick the flower in her hair.

$3 a yard sounds great, whatever works!

Good luck, good design takes time!

Sincerely,

Further Nitpicks
 

Beth,

A. Make sure you keep the central focus on the extraordinary eyes and the strong arch of her eyebrows, everthing else should be secondary.

B. Make sure that the drape in the back is absolutely flat. You need a simple color plane, not additional folds to distract from the figure.

C. I always try to buy fabric in 3yd lenghts and 60" wide if possible. The wider width is great for 2 figures or lounging ones. They usually are upholstery lenghts, more expensive but I buy them in the basic background colors. I also use the most appropriate color for the picture, so I have had to compromise a bit sometimes. I use a background stand I got from a photo shop to hang the fabrics from. It holds backdrops up to 6', is portable and adjustable.

D. Now you won't have the time OR the money to feed your family. Relax, take your time, savor the experience.

Sincerely,

I really hate to do this to you guys, but Gwen and I had a lot of fun following the suggestions above and came up with a number of compostitions.

I sent composites of all the new ones, 18 modified poses to two of the "photographers" I really admire here, and received input from one and I think I had the wrong address for the other.

Please keep a sense of humor, because I am going to post the top 7 favorites. I am thinking I would like to do one in pastel and one in oil.

Thanks for your vote and comments.:)

My color balance seems to be over exposed in this series vs. the ones I posted earlier.

Thanks Mike for the help with the flowers, as you can see I have applied your idea throughout.