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Hi Denise,
Thanks for the feedback. I thought the photo was deficient in a couple of respects. Although the light and shadow on the face are dramatic, it's just another snapshot of a graying guy squinting into the sun against a cluttered background. There's nothing there to engage the viewer. So I thought I'd open the eyes and move the irises/pupils toward the viewer to generate some interest. I didn't like the blue shirt, so I changed it to black.
It's interesting that you find the expression to be "scary". I was shooting for something more like "low native cunning", but I'll settle for scary. I think scary might just be a notch or two up on the emotional scale that I think we're talking about.
On the background, it's the view across the SF Bay from where I live. I just deleted the parts of the city of SF that I don't like, which pretty much left some bare hilltops and fog! That allowed me to put in the blue that used to be in the shirt, along with the warm sunset colors to give some credibility to the flesh tones. Again, I'll go along with eerie as a description of the overall effect, although I was trying for something a little less intense. I can't think of the right adjective at the moment.
I'm really grateful for your comments on this painting, because they indicate I may have gone too far. I've done the same sort of thing to my favorite model, and I suspect I may be overdoing it. One problem for me is that it is no easier to get a good photo of someone than it is to paint them from life, except that you can get more photos in a hurry. How do you work? Do you encounter the problem of getting a model to give you the right expression regardless of whether it's a photo or drawing session?
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