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Nice n Moody
Hello, let me preface this by saying I hope I'm not intruding, being newly joined and all. So, with that, a few thoughts -
- I very much like the modeling on her right hand. The gesture is relaxed yet elegant. I wonder if the thumb and forefinger aren't a bit long. But it's is very nearly a focal point, and nicely done.
- Her far arm is a little bit flat.
- The accents on her forehead on near (right) shoulder are truly lovely.
- I agree with all previous comments about lost edges and the mysterious rising up of the far edge of the train of the dress, and the color of the carpet though I admit the carpet didn't trouble me so much, because as long as the background is adept, I usually let the figure dominate me head.
So, when I thought to myself that I liked the highlights, it made me think about the overall presentation of the painting. Why is she in shadow? Why is the room dimly lit? The historical symbolism is of doubt, a bad omen, or even impending adultery. But, I don't get this sense from the rest of the painting (I mean, I could make a case for it, with her image in the mirrow and no window in sight, but that would be terribly argumentative of me, right?).
Then I re-imagined this as a morning scene, with a happy day just dawning, which matches her innocent yet frankly pleased expression. If it were a morning scene, we would have overall shadow with a few dramatic highlights on the dress, forehead, arm/hand, and shoulder. These would be glowing, hot yellow/orange lights, like a Carravaggio. And this kind of sparkle or sheen would add optimism, etc, as well as fixing the problem of the floating train, because we would have an advancing countour that would describe the rest of the dress as receding. Perhaps a trapezoid of light falling on the carpet in front of the dress?
You've done a great job of creating ambient light and shadow, but I think some selected cast light (not necessarily what I've described here of course), might be nifty.
Humbly
Lisa
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