Marius
 

This is signed, but not yet sealed or delivered, so comments are welcome!

Oil on linen, 16 x 20.

For those of you who might not have seen this in progress, just a little background.

Marius was held as a political prisoner in Romania for 6 years after his parents escaped to Paris and eventually the states. I have known his parents since they arrived here, so this has been especially gratifying for me to paint.

His grandfather was held in "camps" and did not get the chance to leave before his death. His grandmother visits often and is free to come and go now. She and her husband lost their rather large estate, but she is in the process of appealing to the courts to get her property and valuables back.

Marius carries the world

Beth, that's very nice. I like the way you handled the light, and it's also really expressive. It definitely makes a statement about Marius.

Beth,

Very nice! Love the work with the glasses. Do you like working with pastels or oils best?

Your best effort so far!
 

Beth,

All the hard work you have been doing is starting to pay off. This portrait has a real presence and feeling of light. You did a great job with the glasses.

I would soften the left cheek even more and the indentation at the end of the mouth.

You are improving so much.

Sincerely,

Nice job Beth
 

This is by far your best. What I like best is his mouth, it grabs my attention every time I look at the portrait. I would go into descriptive terms but I may get too sensual for younger ears! Good job.

Jean

Great job, Beth. A real exercise in problem solving. Very nice.

My compliments to you, Beth. I really like the eyes. I can almost feel the wetness in his eyeballs.

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! :sunnysmil

I like it, too! Way to go, Beth!

I like the portrait. Very sensitive.

Peter

Beth,

Congratulations on a work well done. I am happy to see that you are making such wonderful progress. I am looking forward to seeing more.

Very moody color scheme, which seems to fit the subject perfectly.

I wanted to offer you a tip for when you photograph your paintings. The edges of the canvas are quite bowed out, especially at the top and bottom. Be sure you're not using a wide angle lens (or if it's a point-and-shoot camera be sure to zoom in a bit). That will give you nice straight edges to your canvases in photos.

Thanks again all!

Michele I am having the hardest time with distorting my paintings, I have even tried levelers. They would look so much better without the distortion, that is why I left the edges crooked, so you would know they were not right. I am shooting digital. ;C

Michele thanks!

I am attaching the new shots of Marius, were I toned down his check and nose shadow. I left the mouth alone so Jean could still enjoy! ;)

Here is a new close-up. I am not sure why this digital is picking up such an intense green on his forehead. It is not there.

I certainly see why the pro's just send them to a photographer!

For thirty bucks I can get a local high end photo studio to shoot excellent 4x5 inch color transparencies of my work. I do this for all my completed paintings, in addition to the digital shots I take for my website and portfolio.

Hi Beth
 

Glad you're leaving the mouth alone. :sunnysmil

Jean