Victoria - oil on linen
 

This is Victoria, oil on linen, 20" x 16". Some may have followed this from the photo critique section. This scene is from a porch a few yards from the Caribbean in Belize. Any comments would be appreciated.

A slightly closer view...

Nice work
 

Very nice work - I like the way the light falls on this lady. It makes a very interesting portrait and holds the eye of the viewer. This portrait radiates a very warm feeling; nicely done.

Henry

Nice work Mike, this is wonderful! :)

Ahhhhh. The woman behind the hand!

Exquisite.

Thank you all for the nice comments.

I think the threat of facing this crowd (and I mean that in a positive way) has had a very positive influence on my painting. As great as this Forum is for all, for people like myself who haven't been exposed to art academe, it has been a godsend. Self-taught painters grind out their knowing over years and years. Being exposed to all this talent has really been a rush for me.

Mike,

I congratulate you on your tenacity and vision and effort. I don't distinguish between "self-taught" and "taught" artists. We all have to do our own work. I don't keep count or track, but I think you've come back over and over again, probably more than most others on site, with new and interesting pieces, as well as with lots of insights about others' work and about varied topics Thanks for that. You do a h*** of a lot of work. Good on you.

I think this is nice work, too. I like the pose and the general execution.

To be more brief than notoriety would anticipate, the very first impulse I had was to suggest that you explore a broader range of values. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think 98% of this piece is between 4 and 6. What that does is rob you of quite easily realized form definition. The face lies flat, and lies in the same plane as the forearm, also flat. It's really quite difficult to sort out the form-defining light, because the subject's entire blouse just glows, melding into the brilliant background. I think a clever pigment choice for the blouse could make this a stellar piece. But there, too, not just one colour wash - there has to be attention to the light play as forms (planes) move toward or away from the light source.

Again, uncharacteristically brief, but I'm off to Taipei in a few hours, and far to go before I sleep.

Cheers,

I hate to disagree with Steven, especially since he may not check emails while in Taipei, but, I feel compelled to differ.

The beautiful "other-worldiness" from this realistic portrait depends on the bright light flooding the subject from behind, over the shoulder. When painting a landscape in bright sunlight, we must eliminate the lower values from the palette, as there is so much reflected light bouncing around, that even the darkest shadows rarely dip below the fourth value.

Here, not only do we have an extraordinarily bright light source, but it is clearly behind the subject which would further reduce cast shadows. I think the careful resistance to modeling here was brave and appropriate.

Perhaps slight temperature changes would define the planes of the head without inventing shadow or dipping deeper into the value scale. However, like bright, foggy-day conditions in the landscape, the few areas of flatness seems to be a natural by-product of the setting.

I think it is a beautiful piece. She has the look of someone who has spent the day in the outdoors and is positively glowing. Having said that, I should say that something bothers me about the arm. Is it a bit short? I can't quite identify the problem, it has something to do with the upper arm and the way it sits on her knee. The sleeve looks right. Perhaps someone else could comment on this?

I don