Unsure of next move. Help!
 

This is probably the largest portrait that I've ever painted (18x24) and I've gotten myself stuck. The question is whether to bring it all to the same degree of finish as the face, or to do a better job of vignetting it. And then there's the background... I would love some fresh eyes on it all.

Also I'm wondering if this painting has crossed the line from portrait to figurative, and where exactly is that line anyway?

Thanks a lot, Janet

Janet, this is beautiful! I love the pose, and of your painting style is delightful.
I've compared some of the shapes in Photoshop and am posting the spots that seem to not match up. I adjusted the sizes of the two images by matching up the lips because I think those are pretty much right on. There are just those three areas that seem to be off a bit.
Very lovely work! If this is the first adjustment on this portrait that you are doing, then your eye is really getting good!

Brenda,

You are so generous in your critiques, not just in the really nice things you say, but in the trouble you go to with the specifics. I certainly appreciate it. I see what you mean about the browbone on the far side and the bridge of the nose. However, the thought of re-painting that eye makes me want to take up an easier pursuit like quantum physics. Or string theory.

Any thoughts on the background and degree of finish? Love to hear them!

Thanks, Janet

Janet,

If I were you, I'd start on that eye just by fixing (lowering and flattening) the upper lid and adjusting the iris. Then if it is still off, I'd do the lower lid.

I like the background you're developing. I like the softness of it. I'm still learning about backgrounds myself, though!

Janet,

I like the the painting and the background a lot. Here are some additional suggestions for tweaking it:

1) Lighten the highlights in her hair to increase value range and modeling and give the painting some pop. The reference photo indicates these should be the lightest part of your painting.

2) The pouching under her right eye is too accentuated. Soften the value range here to de-emphasize. Unless she had a bad night on the town, she is too young to have that problem in her face.

3) Bring the gray in the sky down to her right shoulder to allow the highlight there to work and to pull her into the foreground.

i like the improvements in your painting skills that are showing up here. Keep up the good work.

Youve got a lovely start here.

I know Im not answering your asked questions, but...

her overall skin is warm and brown/tan. You need to search out and find some cools for her skin to be more believeable. The photo you have posted shows her skin as much cooler than you have it painted, but it could be my screen. Even if it didn't - some cools in there would add an awful lot to this painting.

I'm not sure where the line is between figurative and portrait, either, Janet.

I think this is a portrait simply because the painting is so clearly "about" this woman. Her personality, what she might be thinking, her mood.

I am remembering a painting of Charles Dickens by R.W. Buss, titled "Dickens' Dream". It is certainly a portrait but the figure of Dickens is relatively small and asleep. The rest of the painting (unfinished) is an entire wall of character depictions from Dickens' stories.

I don't know what they teach folks in art school about the difference between the two. Manet's painting of the woman behind the bar, in which reflected in the mirror is a whole room full of people. Portrait or figurative? Maybe it is for the artist to say whether his/her work is a portrait or not.

Thanks guys!

I know what my next few moves are, at any rate. Kimberly, you are right about the cools in the skin, it is something that is a real challenge for me. Since the ambient light is from a big blue sky, that's where I think I will concentrate. Richard, thanks for noticing any improvement I might have made - it's all due to this forum, I'm sure. Brenda, I'm going to call this a portrait, then. Glad that's solved.

Janet

Here she is again. I've tried to incorporate all the suggestions the best I could. The question now is, should I call this painting Hope or Faith?

Thanks in advance for looking in.

Janet

Janet,
This has come together nicely. Lovely! My vote is for Faith.