Will
 

This one turned out okay...

I usually edit the backgrounds more (honest, I swear), but in this case I was after the light patterns, as they set up a lot of directional cues. So I decided that this time, "more is more." (Thanks also to Garth, who looked over my shoulder about midway in, on an edit I actually did make.)

My skin color is getting better over time, thank goodness.

32" x 19", about a 6 1/2" head. He was about six or seven years old.

Anything better than this and the painting will have to start taking daily showers.

Nice to see your work again. It has been a while. This is up to your usual level of excellence. I

Oh, Tom, this is really a luscious painting! You have truly conveyed such an engaging sense of light. Even the pathway of filtered light under the bench is so important in creating a depth to the entire scene. It's really a beautiful job, thanks so much for sharing.

First things first. This is truly extra! Even though I enjoy the entire painting the feet are what struck me. Strange I know but its not what some mite think. It is a Bouguereau thing. The feet reminded me of Bouguereau and the care he placed on the placement and the rendering of feet. It mite not have been your intention to position the feet such but I believe they do make a difference.

I love the delicate transitions in your skin tones. Very few are able to see these tones let alone acheave such transitions. Thumbs up. You have managed the landscape masterfully and you have taken the same care with the drapery.

I really like your idea and the innovation by adding the twig in the hand. I think it acheaves the intention.

I can really appreciate the time and your understanding of hue. It is breathtaking! Being that you have reached this level of understanding, it is good to hear that you will not stop here. I say this thinking of your comment in where you say that things are getting better.

My sincere wishes and best for you

Thanks, guys...

Carlos, I'm still laughing!

Chris, thanks very much. I decided the content was the light, and I wanted to get it.

Mischa, I appreciate your comments; I'll have another look at these things. As you suspected, the blue in the shirt is somewhat less saturated and less lavender in the painting, more in harmony with the environment. In adjusting this on the monitor, I had to choose between rendering his complexion or the shirt accurately and haven't been able to capture both yet.

Best to all--T

Tom, it's really beautiful. I agree with Mischa - the feet and legs are so impressive. They're simply perfect. I'm dazzled by the background! What deftness! I'd really love to see some closeups if that's possible.

Sure, Lisa, thanks so much.

(I also went back and re-jiggered the original image to more accurately depict the shirt color as it appears in the painting. Mischa, thanks again.)

Tom -

The skin tones are great! I love how close the values are in the face, and so beautifully painted. Such nice warm tones, and everything fits well together.

Tom, thank you for the close ups. Lovely! I would have loved to watch you work on this one and learn. If by chance you have recorded the procedure please, if its not to much trouble, send it to me, even a high rez of the legs and head. Did you follow the classical stages of painting dead- colouring, 1st, 2nd painting, glazing toning?

Grate job and good for you!

Tom, it's gorgeous!

The light, clothing, limbs everything! I love his freckled face and how you were able to show the freckles without them jumping out at you. Same goes for the teeth, so few people can pull teeth off and you just did it in a most wonderful way.

Tom, what a soft velvety feeling, and there is elegance and balance throughout the painting.
Truely beautiful
Ilaria

Thanks, everyone...

Julie--I'm finally getting the importance of neutrals in skin.

Enzie--thanks. I've figured out that, like a lot of things, it's better to paint everything around the teeth and define them by outside contours, rather than painting them as little Chicklets lined up.

Ilaria--it's a little confined horizontally, but it's planned with a painting of his twin, facing the other way, so they can either be hung together or not.

Mischa--I prefer to paint as directly as I can. I paint a first layer in color, and establish values then, and continue to refine in layers in color. I glaze very sparingly to adjust color at the end, if at all. I'm impatient with glazes and don't wait sufficiently for them to set, so I muddle and dirty them up--I don't like to glaze at all if I can help it.

Beautiful portrait, Tom.
I like the light, and the nice athmosphere created by it. Your backgroung is really great.
I agree for the feet : very elegant pose and soft skin tones.
Congratulations!

Tom, don't you find it really really hard to paint two works that have to hang together as a dyptich ? To the difficulties of just painting you have to add the task of matching colours and size. What a task!
How are you going about ? Did you carry on on both paintings at the same time or is the second one to be started yet? I also wanted to ask you if you started on a toned ground here or on white.
Thanks
Ilaria

Marina, thanks. I appreciate this from one who's paintings define elegance.

Ilaria--Not too difficult if it's planned from the beginning. I posed both boys with this goal in mind, and then worked the compositions in roughs simultaneously. I am not painting them concurrently--another job has intervened--but I'll keep both in the studio to paint with similar colors and values. (They are not planned for the same frame, just to be hung on the same wall if the client wants. Similar but different, with the same head size.) The canvas ground is white, but I tone the drawing with washes overall when I start painting, as the white throws off my value eye.

Wow!
 

Oh Tom,

This is truly spectacular! You shared the reference image with me a while back, and your synthesis or edited interpretation is perfection. I love everything you did with this. I know you had to edit the geometry of the bench and remove a substantial tree trunk that was in conflict with Will's head. I love the elegantly designed composition, including those well posed feet . The likeness right down to the freckles is perfect. Did you age the color of the wood on the bench? I like the gray wood as a choice. This painting certainly supercedes the reference image! I imagine your client is enormously pleased.

I can't wait to see the companion portrait of his brother, you have done so well with this!

Garth

Garth, thanks!

Again, I appreciate the second eye you provided.

I didn't age the wood beyond what it was. It was a combination of warm grays overall that went a little silvery on the top surfaces that caught more weather and sun.

I moved his right hand from the near to the back leg, which became a bear to redraw. I'll have to tweak it some more--it still isn't right--but I'll do that when I'm working on the companion piece.

Thanks so much--TE

Tom,

What a lovely gentle painting of a young boy. It seem to me that you took extra delight in the background which is handled with such delicacy and radiates such a soft summer light. It makes me feel the same way I did as a girl, dipping my feet into the edge of a wooded river in summer.


Mischa,

You are. Tom is a well respected award winning painter who gives workshops all over the country. I think any critiques you have should be PM'd to the artist. It says very strongly on the section that no critiques are allowed.

Sharon--

Thanks so much for your affirmation of my work!

--T

Tom,

You need no affirmation from me, but the wonderful thing about this painting is it brought back one of my fondest memories of my youth.

"A lotus grows in a clear water,
so natural without overly decorating"
(Qing shui chu fu rong,
Tian ran qu diao shi)

"Lotus Tom", a possible name for posterity.

Tom,

This is a beautiful painting. The skin tones and color are amazing, but I think what really sells me on this one is the mood. Maybe it's a rare, lazy moment when there's nothing else to do but sit outside and enjoy the morning sunlight. I think some of the best portraits/figures look less posed and arranged and more natural. This one has that quality. Thanks for briefly sharing your procedure.

Richard

SB-- Thanks...Lotus Tom it is.

Richard--Thanks...he's a little more "arranged" than I normally like, but again, this is part of a pair of companion paintings.

I will take it to the framer's this afternoon, so I re-worked the bothersome hand a little. I don't know if this grab next to the window light will show the solutions--they're very subtle--but the problems were:

1) Too much contrast in that area in general, especially in the shadows of the hand and shorts

2) I made the rookie mistake of over-delineating between the fingers and overmodeling on the whole. Probably from fatigue.

Overall, I softened edges (they were sharper than the nearer hand, obviously a problem), reduced contrast and had another look at the outside contour around it.

Sometimes it's better to set a painting aside for a couple of days and come back to it. I hope this helps anyone struggling with the same thing.

Tom,

What a great portrait! I must have missed this entirely when I was in Maine for a few days in the beginning of July. So glad Sharon brought the thread back up. It's beautifully painted, as everyone has said in so many ways already. I just want to add that the glimpse of this boy's personality in his sparkling, attractive expression is what makes me feel he's a real person. I'm sure people will marvel how you modeled the figure and got the flesh tones just right, etc,, and the parents will gloat and brag about how great you are (which you are!), but in the end they will treasure this one and enjoy looking at it over and over because of the life in that boy.

Alex--

Thanks so much, I appreciate this a great deal.

I expect to have ups and downs with technique through time, but if I can retain the aliveness, I'll be satisfied.

All the best--TE

Oh, Tom, this is incredible! You've outdone yourself (and just about everybody else as far as I can tell, too.) Just fabulous!

Thanks so much Michele! I do feel I'm in a period of improvement.

Best to you--TE

Very nice, Tom. I like the Bouguereau feet also.

Steve

Steve--

Thanks so much!

Tom, I am late to post on this thread, but I had to come on here and say how very much I like this new painting of yours. It has a winsome gentle softness that grabs the viewer right away.

Everything works - the composition, the pose, the paint quality, the edges, the color - whenever I see one of your outdoor portraits I think I should just give up doing them myself.

I've looked at your work for years now and have had so much pleasure in doing so.

Likewise, Linda! Thanks, and best to you as always.

Tom, I've looked at this painting so many times I feel guilty for not posting until now. There are so many things I like about this I'll just pick a couple to mention. I like how you've captured his posture and form. The light patterns on the ground are beautiful. The background is interesting but doesn't compete with the subject.

When you first posted this I had just started working on a portrait of my grandson and I've been back here several times for inspiration. Thanks.

Thanks, Debra....good luck with your painting!