Grandma and child
 

Hello, everybody,

This is a painting I did from an old black and white photograph that I have always liked, and so I decided to 'take the plunge' one afternoon and paint it.

The photo is quite dark, so some detail is lost in the shaded areas.

I think that the Grandma's hand probably needs the edges softened a little, but otherwise I quite like it.

What do you think of the choice of colours? Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for looking.

Barbara

This is the close up.

Barbara, you did a wonderful job on painting the old woman

[QUOTE]I wish I could scan the colors in for you, but I don

Thank you, Steven and Enzie,

Enzie, I have printed out all the valuable information that you have given to me and I thank you for that.

The colours that I used are not too far removed from the colours that you have recommended to use for the skin tones. Having said that, the selection for mid-brown coloured skins in my book is very limited. I used burnt umber, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, and white for the main mix, then additions of raw umber, ultramarine blue, and cadmium red for shadows as recommended. The book is called the Oil Painter's Pocket Palette. It has been my 'Bible' from when I started portraiture.

I think that the time has come to buy a better book on portraiture. I have already added Chris Saper's book to Santa's shopping list. I will also look at the book you have mentioned. I just wish that Santa could fit a bigger (North facing) studio into his sack. Never mind!

I will certainly experiment with your colour selection as you advise. However, the photograph is black and white so it will be difficult to compare colours.

I agree that the child's clothing looks somewhat unfinished and I will work more on it.

Thank you for taking the time to advise me, it is much appreciated.

Barbara