Jean-Louis
 

Commissioned Portrait - Oil on Canvas - 45" x 48"

Original!
 

This is quite an intimate composition!

I especially like how the objects on the table and the raised legs do not distract. They lead us toward the powerful gaze of your interesting subject.

I agree, very interesting, narrative portrait. I'm very interested to see more of your work, but the web site link in your bio does not work; could it simply be the wrong path?

Thank you, Jeanine.

Mari, the site should be www.artist-info.com/artist/Anthony-Palliser.
Knowing me, I probably typed it wrong!

Administrator's note: Anthony's link is working properly now.

Anthony,

Nice work! Very ambitious. The overall effect outweighs my critique. Only a smart aleck fellow artist might pick on the things I note. The vase on the piano seems to hang behind the book; not quite on the book, nor on the piano. The drape tends to look as though it clings to the back of the chair, and the highlights on the subject's right leg form a lineal pattern that tends not to describe the leg below it. On my computer the pupils tend to look a bit spotty and the hair line seems hard. These last two items may be characteristic of the subject, I realize.

I am much too lazy to attempt such a composition. Well done.

I really like the use of the different planes, the way space is suggested by placing objects on the right places. Great composition!

Greetings,
Peter

Great composition, excellent painting. I am far too lazy also to tackle something so complicated. My only comment would be the sharp hairline but then again he is of an age where he could be wearing a toupee.:sunnysmil

The trouble is that this is a very large portrait that looks so tiny on the monitor. Here's a detail of the head

Anthony,

I really like this portrait a great deal. I love the composition, it tells me so much about this guy. Love it!

Anthony,

Loved the portrait and I checked out your site too. All of your work feels airy and open to me and makes me comfortable looking at it. Good job.

Anthony,

Now that I can see the head in detail I can better understand why the hair and eyes need attention. The whites of the eyes are almost never as white as they might at first seem and usually have a cast shadow from the eyelid. The "white" area in the left eye (on our right) looks a tad large and doesn't follow the likely line of of the lid. And lastly, and unless the hair is manufactured, look hard to find some areas where the forehead and hair blend one into the other. In this case I would cheat and create a few places even if they are not evident.

Patt, thank you.

Jim, I spent close to a year on this painting and "cheated" quite extensively. I never think the result should be as it is, rather as I want it to be. That was my final decision, to keep the balance of the painting and the representation of the model. The eyes are his. The hair, I admit, is slightly stylized. If you mean by manufactured that he is wearing a wig, he wasn't. :)

This is excellent! This is one painting that would be valuable as a "figurative" painting, as well as a portrait. His face is superb. I love it.

I went to look at your website, and immediately realized that I already know you from the other forums, as aaasp. I still love this painting, though.:)

Anthony,

I guess it is my personality type that urges me to respond to this critiques section of the Forum. I do this with the assumption that those who have offered their work will use whatever they find helpful and disregard that which is not. Realizing that you have made your final decision, I nevertheless had made a few changes in Photoshop relating to my earlier comments, and pass them along for whatever value.