[Garth Herrick]

Hi Bob,

This painting sort of reminds me of the early period portrait Degas did of his brother (below) at the National Gallery of Art in DC. Something about the calm, yet stoic look.

I am greatly concerned about the skintones looking a bit too hot in your painting. Perhaps it's a bad monitor calibration or something, but if not, I would recommend significantly rethinking those colors in his face, and the hair seems like it could be less flatly represented as well. I'm seeing effects and artifacts from your digital reference image translated directly into paint, and maybe needing a little more thoughtful interpretation. If you are out and about, take a look at people you pass by, and take mental notes of how light falls on their faces, especially in the chroma of the highlights and level of information in the shadow masses. Don't necessarily be completely reliant upon photographs; they are always misleading to some extent! Just my two cents.

Garth