Anna with glasses

Lisa Ober · 03-27-2005, 12:25 AM

Greetings!

This is a recent commission of a young girl with glasses which I am not at all used to doing (the glasses part). I am trying Canson paper again and this time I only used pastel pencils, not a single pastel stick. I have cropped in a bit since there is no background, but ultimately I would guess it will be a 16 X 20 with a head size (top to chin) of about 6 1/2" or 7". I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you.

Jean Kelly · 03-27-2005, 01:40 AM

Lisa, your skin tones are beautiful here. You may want to look up Sergio Ostroverhy on this forum. His pastel work has the same attention to detail and delicacy. Soon I'll be working on a young girl wearing glasses like your portrait. I've talked to her parents about the distortion the glasses create (enlargement of the eyes), and we've decided to go ahead with painting her without the glasses and adding them later. That way the lens distortion won't affect the painting. Just a little cosmetic surgery and painterly "slight of hand".

Jean

Lisa Ober · 03-27-2005, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean Kelly

Soon I'll be working on a young girl wearing glasses like your portrait. I've talked to her parents about the distortion the glasses create (enlargement of the eyes), and we've decided to go ahead with painting her without the glasses and adding them later. That way the lens distortion won't affect the painting. Just a little cosmetic surgery and painterly "slight of hand".

Jean

Jean, thank you very much!

As far as the glasses issue goes, the strange thing is that the parents are so used to looking at her with glasses (she wears them all the time) that they actually felt the distortion should be left in or it wouldn't look like her to them. I can understand that so that's what I did. Normally, and especially for near-sighted people, I would do exactly what you said because glassed for near-sightedness work the opposite way. They make the eyes look smaller. I love painting eyes so I wouldn't keep the distortion in that case. I am guessing for the one you are going to do, the subject might not wear the glasses all the time. I guess the bottom line is to get the client's input. Again, thank you.

Linda Brandon · 03-27-2005, 11:10 AM

Lisa, this is very sensitive and beautiful, you've done a wonderful job with this girl! I especially like the eyebrows and hairline - you are very skilled in this medium.

Lisa Ober · 03-27-2005, 11:16 AM

Linda, I wish you knew how much a compliment from you means to me. I have bookmarked your web site because I so love your paintings! Thank you so much for making my day. I do love pastels of any kind. This is only my second portrait using pastel pencils entirely and I really like being able to get the littler details with them. Again, thank you for putting a smile on my face.

Julie Deane · 03-27-2005, 03:20 PM

Hi Lisa -

This is a lovely portrait.
Nicely rendered, and using only pastel pencil? Wow, I'm impressed!

Lisa Ober · 03-27-2005, 11:26 PM

Thank you, Julie. Yes, I only used pastel pencils which were particularly difficult for the hair portion I must say. I do like the control of the details with pencils but the larger areas are a challenge of my patience. Thank you for looking.

Jean Kelly · 03-28-2005, 12:54 AM

Hi again Lisa,

No, in this case her eyes are so enlarged by the lenses that it is very distracting. There is some major problem with her eyes. So, we decided to downplay that feature per the parents wishes. I'm glad your were able to discuss it with the parents because they are the most important part of this crazy puzzle. There is some imaginary line that we need to find in every commission, how many lines do you magically erase. How many chins disappear (I lost one when I did my own portrait)! And when do we say enough is enough.

Jean

Jimmie Arroyo · 03-28-2005, 10:02 AM

Lisa, this is very, very well done. I too am impressed with the handling of the eyebrows and hair line. I find it hard to make them convincing, you've done it. Thanks for sharing.

Lisa Ober · 03-28-2005, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean Kelly

Hi again Lisa,

No, in this case her eyes are so enlarged by the lenses that it is very distracting. There is some major problem with her eyes. So, we decided to downplay that feature per the parents wishes. I'm glad your were able to discuss it with the parents because they are the most important part of this crazy puzzle. There is some imaginary line that we need to find in every commission, how many lines do you magically erase. How many chins disappear (I lost one when I did my own portrait)! And when do we say enough is enough.

Jean

Jean, yes, pleasing the client is important of course. You know, for this one the little girl's right eye was far larger with the glasses and I did tone it down a bit without completely eliminating the effect of the glasses.

You had me laughing about the chins too. I performed artistic plastic surgery on my own chins when I did a self portrait as well. I might add it was not enough but I didn't want people to think it was my thin sister.

Good luck with your subject wearing glasses!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmie Arroyo

Lisa, this is very, very well done. I too am impressed with the handling of the eyebrows and hair line. I find it hard to make them convincing, you've done it. Thanks for sharing.

Jimmie, I am so flattered by your compliment because your recent pastel keeps drawing me (no pun intended) back to look at how you handled the color. It's simply beautiful so thank you for the kind comments. As far as eyebrows go, I saw your self portrait on your site and I think you did them perfectly as they were quite convincing. It sure doesn't seem like they are a challenge for you at all. Thanks again for taking the time to comment.