Livia
 

This is a recent portrait of one of my stepdaughters 'in her element'. I had struggled to settle on a suitable photo of her that she also liked, until this one, taken on an impromptu sailing trip on her graduation day.

This is quite a lovely portrait, I found myself drawn to it right away. The only comments I offer are really nit-picky.

Maybe it is my monitor, but she appears rather orange, as if the sun was setting. It really is lovely in its own way, but to me, the background does not indicate that is the time of day you were going for.

I'd like to see more contrast in the face, more highlights where they are indicated, and more darks... for instance I don't see the slight furrow between her eyes as she is squinting a bit at the sun. I think a little more contrast would make it more dramatic. Too many middle tones, but other than that, the painting is really awesome!

Yikes
 

Sorry, the image is way too saturated! I'm not sure what happened, because it doesn't look like that on my monitor. I'll try to correct it and upload a new image.

Well, here goes. I hope this is better. Notwithstanding the oversaturated image, you're certainly right about the wrinkled brow. That should help her look more natural. As far as the time of day, it was late afternoon in early May. Thanks for the extra set of eyes!

Much Better! I guess I should have realized it was mostly a saturation issue, uploading accurate pictures of paintings is a skill in itself, and one I haven't ever mastered correctly.

What a fun piece - alot of personality. I don't dare critique as I am a student myself, but I do enjoy looking at it!

I really like the thoughtful pose and as a sailor for 55+ years, I congratulate you on getting all the sailing bits and pieces right. Most painters would skip them and make us crusty ole sailors grumble. Nicely done.

Hi Deborah,

Now, keep in mind I'm a newbie so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

The two things that I notice are:
-You've got her forehead a bit too straight; it is more slanted and looks slightly more arced at the top in the photo.
-Her arm is a bit too thin down at the bottom in the painting. She looks like she has a little more flesh on her arm in the photo.

Two things I notice that may be intentional choices on your part are: Her hair glitters a bit more in the photo. Her shadows on her cheek are darker in the photo.

I like this a lot. I love your attention to detail on the sailboat rigging. And the lake in the background looks perfect. I'm wondering if you would want to play more with hard and soft edges? Every edge is very well defined. Her figure draws focus for me because of the saturated colors in her skin vs. the pale colors in the rigging and background. I don't necessarily focus on her face though. This may be fine because there are a lot of interesting things going on in the painting. I think it's interesting that you painted her with sunglasses on. (Of course anyone would wear sunglasses in this situation!) It's reminding me of Nagel slightly. The photo is great in composition and it looks almost stylized. My hat is off to whoever took the photo. You?

I love your modern, sharp style.

Changes
 

Thanks, guys! Your comments are quite helpful. It's amazing what I see now, that I didn't notice before. And yes, I took the picture. She wanted to take us for a sail that afternoon, even though we were all still dressed for her graduation (which explains why she's not in her usual t-shirt). It's also the reason I happened to have my camera with me. All in all, a fortuitous occasion!