I actually like this new color scheme. For what it's worth anyway. The colors wouldn't be so pure. There would be some of the background color affecting the shadows of side and top planes it reflects into. The same goes for the color of her suit. It would reflect into his suit and into the under planes of her jaw. Colors reflect and bounce everywhere. Your painting looks more like a hand colored photo than a harmonious scene. It's very difficult to make these things up though. It really needs to be observed from reality. The best solution is to set up everything so it looks good before you paint it. That's what Sargent and Paxton did, just to name two.

The thing that bothers me the most though are the dark value shadows under his jaw. Look at your photo. See how much darker the light part of the suit is compared to his jaw shadows. You have knocked the intrinsic value relationships that existed in your setup and thwarted them. The result is an unnatural look. Scumbling over these shadows with a lighter value would help.

Good luck.

Hi Terri,

"Married couple" paintings are the hardest thing in the world to do well, in my opinion, and I just wanted to let you know that I like your painting very much so far. I'm about to begin one of these myself and I'm watching this thread with keen interest.

I'll keep out of the color harmony discussion. The last few portraits that I've done have had very warm backgrounds and I seem to be wandering off in those directions. (I'm hoping that Tolkien was right: "Not all those who wander are lost.")

Oh Sharon! --
Thanks so much for all the input and insight, it's something I REALLY need to keep in mind at the beginning of the whole painting process, and do a whole lot more planning before jumping into the painting! (and I think I need to develop a better sense of what works, too... so your comments on pairing more intense with less intense etc. etc. are greatly appreciated!) I mocked up the blue toned color scheme that you recommended in Paint Shop Pro, and those colors really would be beautiful together. (I've posted the mock-up below). Now, ..let me back up and tell you that my heart also sank when I read your post, because when I posted the sort of wine colored dress version I thought, well, now that certainly looks better than the blue... and went ahead and painted over that dress on impulse... So that the dress was no longer even blue... and your beautiful color plan meant repainting the entire canvas, something I just didn't feel up to doing -- and that really doesn't fit into the timetable for this piece!

Marvin--- your post probably saved my sanity tonite! :) It came along just after I'd read Sharon's and when I was in the middle of pulling my hair out for painting over the blue so impulsively. So I'm going to try to make a go of it with the wine colored dress... I hear what you're saying about the reflected colors and the contouring, I hope I'll be able to pull that together --- Thanks!

Linda, -- yes... I think I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew with this one. Two on one canvas somehow seems a little trickier with adults than kids. I haven't painted adults before AND have gotten used to doing outdoors backgrounds which somehow seem to come together more easily for me, colorwise. As far as the color harmony goes, I'm feeling like, hmmm... well, I'm just not trusting my judgement in that area lately. The other painting I'm currently working on (also indoors) is also in color limbo. Maybe I should stick with the outdoors ones!

So I'm going with the wine color scheme partly for expedience... This painting is supposed to be done about now... but am wondering if there's a concensus that the blue theme is superior to this, perhaps I ought to offer the client the option of having the color reworked in that direction, and pushing the delivery date back?

Update
 

Well... here's where it's at right now. I'm still combing through yesterday's feedback to see what I've missed yet. (At this point I've just changed her dress color, and tried to go back to capture some of that reflected light... but haven't touched on other details.)

Any additional thought/comments are welcome!

I wouldn't make any further major color changes. As Marvin mentioned, those decisions really need to be done at the very beginning, by choosing articles that actually are the colors you want. The highly complex reflections and influences between colors are just about impossible to predict and almost always look "made up" if one attempts to guess or invent them, especially without many years of experience at painting these color influences from life.

Next time, even if painting a two-adult-interior portrait, you'll have a MUCH easier time of it, by doing this planning up front, guaranteed!

Terry,

I would keep what you have here. Perhaps just adding a small bright touch to the tie would work. Your figures have more unity with the darker clothing tonalities.

I think I spend more time preparing for a painting often than painting it.
I did a portrait of a lady in a red gown. After studying her face and build I sent photos of dress recommendations to her. I asked her height. I then went to her home and measured camera distances, to see where the best angles were. I stuck a mannequin dressed in the same color as her gown to see if anything else was needed to add to the picture. She loved white roses, which was ok with me . I stuck my dummy, looked through my camera lens so I could see where I would like the roses to come. I bought an urn, contacted a local florist, told her what I needed and she arranged for the appropriate amount of flowers to be ready for the photography.

There were more preparation details, but this is an example of some of the work that went behind the portrait.

Being prepared for a portrait session, be it from life or from photos gives both your client and yourself confidence and reduces wasted time. Leave as little as possible to chance. Most clients, in my experience, like good pastry, don't benefit from too much fussing.

Nelson Shanks says that great paintings are created because of the decisions made right at the beginning, not at the end.

Sharon -- Wow - Thanks for sharing how you approach planning for your portraits! (And by the way, the lady in red with the white roses is stunning! :thumbsup: ) That level of up-front involvement had never occurred to me. Your clients must love being so well taken care of!

Michelle, Thanks so much for the encouragement! I've learned my lesson on this one! It probably took 3 times as long as it needed too and for all the wrong reasons! :) From here on out, color and composition questions will be resolved up front... and no more reference photos that need 'help'!

Terri, the portrait's looking very good. You've pushed the values so that it has a brighter, fresher appearance and the flesh tones are livelier. The background color works well with the skin tones; I just wish there was some echo of that greenish color elsewhere, although I can almost see it in his suit. Otherwise I think it's an excellent job of portraying a difficult subject with less than perfect reference material. I'll bet they're really pleased.

Fini.
 

Thanks Leslie.... you're right -- the clients are thrilled with it --so that helps. They're completely oblivious to how much of a struggle it's been behind the scenes. I've sure learned a lot with this one!


Figured I'd post the finished painting here just to close the loop. I've reworked his suit sleeve, brightened the tie, softened the shadows under his chin and the 5 o'clock shadow on his upper lip, etc.