Okay...Gut reactions please
 

Greetings,

I sure like having this forum for help!
I am painting this formal portrait of an 8 year old young man. It is to hang in his grandfather's house and follow the appearance and feel of another formal painting of his mother in a black evening gown set in a grand living room that hangs in that house. I'm a very INFORMAL person and this is all new to me. I like the colors, I like the feel but something feels wrong and I don't know what it is.

Please take a look at what I have created so far and if you could offer some suggestions to bring believability and life to this painting I would be SO grateful
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Thanks!

Yellow Ocher!
 

You have chosen a very luminous background color which overpowers the very small flesh area. It just drowns it out. Can you cool it off a bit, or put some of the boy's flesh colors in it? Or even use a different base, like naples yellow which will not glow like this. It is llike there is a spot of flesh in the middle of the field of ocher.

Lon,
Thanks! That's exactly what I did. I had just used Photoshop to give this IDEA of a background. It's all done and worked out great.

happy painting!