Getting ready
 

16" x 22" pastels on la Carte sanded paper.


I have been working on this painting for about a week now, and it is getting on my nerves. I just don't know how to bring this to completion. I really don't know what is wrong with it, whether it is the light and shadow or the composition, but somehow it does not look very 'natural' to me. I think the woman looks a little stiff, but I cannot see what I am doing wrong here. I would appreciate everyone's input on this painting. Also, should I crop this painting a bit more?

Thanks,
Mai

Here is the close up.

And here is the close up for the reflection.

Mai,

I like how you handled the back away space in this, but since there is nothing in the background of the "real" person, i.e., the furniture or objects behind her, I am having a hard time seeing what is reflection and what is not, maybe that was your intention.

I looked three times and realized you did have duplicates on the vanity counter but I think they need to be separated in some way to make it more obivious. Would the reflected items show light in a different way? Wouldn't the mirror be lighter, or have some glare somewhere? How about some water spots? (Oops, that sounds like my house).

I am assuming your light source is coming on your model from behind her right shoulder/back. My eye is drawn to the dark edge of her left shoulder, maybe gradate that some more; the light on the back in the reflection is wonderful.

I cannot tell what the blue thing is in the foreground, but value-wise it is becoming part of the reflected lady. Is it a hat or sink area? Perhaps show the top of the lipstick laying on the counter behind one of the items, bottle or box, so it wouldn't show up in the reflection; that could create some seperation too.

I like the hair and love the shadow on the chest of the reflection from her arm. Wow, this was a tricky one to take on!

I can't see where you could crop it differently. Don't give up, this one isn't ready for the garage sale!

Dear Mai Ly,

As I look at your painting, there are a couple of basic observations that come to mind. They are the same elements I consider in looking at any painting, long before I evaluate drawing, color harmony, likeness, etc., because without them, even the best drawing or most beautiful color cannot make a painting successful.

I look initially at what I consider to be fundamental underpinnings: first, the center of interest or focal point...what it is you want your viewer to see; and second, the value pattern that creates a design to support the center of interest. These are things that I feel are missing from your painting, and I will confine my remarks to these items.

To try to show you what I mean, I've (loosely!) sketched the value pattern of your piece. It is largely populated by isolated areas of dark, small islands that don't connect into larger forms. There are two very dark areas. Because the triangularly shaped darkest dark not only lies next to the lightest light, it has a relatively sharper edge, and it is an eye-grabber. As a result, this odd little area has become the unintended visual center of interest to this work.

The two figures compete with each other as secondary areas. I have seen a number of "mirrored" paintings where the figures are backed up against the edges, relatively equal in size, like bookends, leaving the relatively blank mirror to dominate the center space. From a compositional standpoint, it makes the most sense to treat such images as either a two-figure portrait or a unified single subject, where the reflection is clearly insubordinate to the subject, or vice-versa. In "Getting Ready", my eye doesn't know where to go, so it floats from the triangle to the frame to the tissue boxes and out of the frame where the hair of the figure on our left forms a tangent with the edge of the picture plane.

Strong design is essential to a strong painting, whether portrait, landscape or abstract. I also think it is the most difficult to do well. One of the things that helps me the most is to make small value sketches in three values, then five, to see how well the image "reads." I wouldn't dream of starting the detail unless I can first resolve the design. I think this would help you, too.

Beth,
Thank you for your suggestions. But I think I am going to re-design and do the painting again, because something is fundamentally wrong with the painting and I am not very happy with it.

Chris,
Thank you so much for pointing out where I have failed to achieve totally. For the past month, I have been focusing on how to design my paintings, so that they will look 'effective'. But, as you said it is the most difficult thing to do well. I am trying to understand the fundamental principles and applying them to my paintings. Your sketch has helped to clarify a lot of things that I was in a muddle with.

As mentioned above, I will study and re-design my painting again, and hopefully, I will improve the next time round :)

Thanks again,
Mai