Mark
 

This is a portrait of a friend named Mark. I am interested in comments about this painting. Thank you.

Simon

Simon,

This is an interesting and thought-provoking perspective you have here. At first blush I thought the hands belonged to Mark, which would be a bit of a stretch (literally for Mark). As I study longer, I think they must be your hands. In either case I like the boldness of the composition and the strong color contrast.

I like the "tension" in this painting. We can't help but wonder what's going on in Mark's mind. If those are Marks hands, they are very big. But for some reason , it is ok that they are big. It's a haunting peice.

Interesting painting.... you've achieved both a very old-master feel with the chiaroscuro, the warm earth palette and the props (open book, pen-in-hand) and at the same time a very modern feel with the Francis Bacon "melting" form of the hands. I like it.

My only criticism is that I think a few counterpoints in terms of cool colors would make the painting richer and give it more vibration.