[Chris Saper]

Dear Steven,

I really like this painting too, and am not troubled with the darkness of the face. (If you want to try to tease out some info in the shadows of your source photo, light it from the back [p.65 BTW]) If I were to suggest anyuthing in the value department, I would perhaps lighten the value of the background, without changing the hue, toward the right side of the canvas; a slight value shift would explain the silhouette, and not require any more info in the face shadow.

In the Sax department, the ony change I might make is to shift the temperature of the highlights from warm oranges to cool tones. As you know, I am rather compulsive about color temperature; not knowing your light source (it could go either way), because the other hues in the sax are very warm, I'd probably go for a little temperature relief, value and temp, but not very saturated in hue.

Best wishes, Chris