"Portrait of a gray haired man"
 

This is my latest painting, the portrait of a man with a lot of gray hair.

Tito,

I would like to critique your work, but it is difficult to see. Would it be possible to take it out of the frame, and photograph it in even, natural light? Also, if you crop the image so that it fills the allotted space it would be easier to see. Posting details would also be helpful. Thanks!

Alex

appology
 

I'm sorry for not repplying sooner, but I was in the process of moving from Alabama to Illinois and I wasn't connected with the internet.
Will try to send another photo.

photo without the frame
 

This is another photo without the frame

Tito, thank you for the MUCH better photo!

I have a couple more questions: 1) Did you work from life, or from a photo? If you worked from a photo, it might be helpful if you posted it here. 2) I would like to know something about your goals as an artist. Where do you want to go stylistically? What issues/problems do you feel you are facing now with your work? I might be better able to give you a helpful critique if I knew more about these things.

Are you happy with the likeness? To me, the features look in proportion. The skin appears extremely highly colored, not quite believable, but you have some well-placed cool hightlights that help model the forms. His hair is quite striking and dramatic, but my eye is confused by it because I am not sure whether you indended to describe the hair by building up the paint surface, or by modeling light and shadow with color. Not that paint has to be flat--it's just so thick and crusty it looks almost like a bas relief. It seems to me that you are struggling with how to make a convincing illusion with paint. If I am wrong, please forgive me. I would like to hear more from you about your concept/goal and problems w.r.t. this painting before saying more.

Alex

When I go to a museum and see a portrait of the past, I don't care if there was a likeness or not, what goals the artist had in his mind or what technique he used. Either I like it, hate it or feel indifferent.
My only concern when I paint is to express with my own painting language what I see with my eyes, I don't worry about a style, because eventually a style (good or bad) is going to develop, whether I want it or not.