Baby portrait
 

Work in progress. I will be wrapping up this one soon (a little more work on the hands and background). Size is 16X20 on New Traditions panel (I love that panel Chris!!).

Hi Jean,

This is a charming and sensitive painting. I love how you’ve let the pink shirt play up into her skin tones and you’ve done a really masterful job with those subtle color transitions in the forms of her face. The hands are also lovely and convincingly chubby. You've included soft edges, too.

My only hesitation about this painting is that the background is such an intense green, golfcourse green. I know that you’ve caught it accurately as we look at a lawn, but if this were my painting I would desaturate that strong yellow next to the shoulder on our right. I’d gray that to a whitish or bluish gray. Atmospheric perspective suggests that yellow drops off the farther we move toward the horizon.

Another small suggestion: those curls on the right side of her head seem very evenly spaced and similar. I always start with the assumption that repetitive forms are not identical and check very carefully to see whether my assumption is correct. Even if it they do turn out to be identical in this instance you might space them more unevenly or vary the size of the individual curl.

I probably wouldn’t have included those extra toys at the edge of the canvas, but they don’t really bother me.

These are picky comments, Jean. Your clients will be thrilled.

Thanks for your suggestions Linda. I took the painting into photoshop and tried the background change as you suggested and it really worked well - You have been very helpful. When it is reworked I will repost it.

This is a very lovely piece. A calm, focused expression on the face. I have to agree with Linda about the background though. I enjoy seeing extreme lights and darks in a painting or drawing, and the majority of the tones are all in the midrange. I think it would make the painting pop out more. This is just something I thought I would point out. Overall, the painting is beautiful.

Keep up the great work.

This is absolutely beautiful. If it was commissioned, its owner will be overjoyed!

M.S.

Hi Jane,

You have done a lovely job with reflected color and skin tones! I might, as Chase mentioned explore a few more dark notes to move the viewer's eye, since the only darks on my monitor are the subject's eyes.

Thanks Matthew, Chase and Chris for your responses.

I stepped away from this for a while and have been working on another piece so I could get a fresh eye. Looking at it now, I can definitely see that I need to expand the values in the lower ranges. Your input is greatly appreciated on this.