Jenn
 

16 x 20 Oil on Linen

Mike, I really like this portrait because it exudes personality. I get a real sense of who this woman is. I also like your subtle treatment of the hair and glasses and the carefully constructed values leading the viewer to the face. Nicely done.

I echo what Richard says! Well done and great personality!

Thank you both for your kind comments. She has such a great personality I am glad that it comes through the painting. This one is a little more "finished" than most of my work but I found it quite enjoyable laboring over the subtle value shifts, many of which do not come through the photo of the painting.

Very nice Mike. I like how the eye is drawn to her eyes and the hair on her forhead, very dimensionally rendered. You instantly want to like this woman. Congratulations!

I liked everything about it and I second the compliments you've received.
The luminosity is great!

At first pass, my reaction was "OK . . . yet another nicely done, competent portrait head. >sigh< "

Coming back to it, Zen-like qualities began to sneak up on me. The quietness of the background and the white blouse counter the position of the head and shoulders relative to the ground, and subtleties such as the glasses, the shape and depth of the collar opening, the turn of shadow on the sitter's right eye . . . all provide tensions expressive of the sitter's being, taking this piece beyond mere competent rendering.

Those who would dismiss portraiture from inclusion as fine art, and many who are painting portraits, do not fully consider the repetitious similarity of constraints regularly imposed by the situations which attend the painting of portraits. The predictable formality which results imposes an obligation on the part of portraitists to make unique creative choices within these formal constraints if a portrait is to rise to the level above that of "just another head".

Well done, Mike !

I beg your indulgence to refer my opinions on this piece indirectly to the thread discussing portraiture as fine art, which John Reidy started in the "Cafe G" a short while back.

Thanks Patti, Claudemir & Richard,

Your observations are a joy for me to read, particularly those that pick up on what I had in mind even during the planning stages, which I am discovering more and more really is the foundation of any successful piece and takes almost as much time.

This is beautiful!

Mike,

You definitely caught something in her expression! I could keep on looking at this and not get tired of it. And though the composition is simple, every aspect of it is well thought out.