My son's and his wife's wedding gift

[Patricia Joyce]

I am so excited about my youngest son, a distinguished member of the Coast Guard, getting married to a lovely woman this Satuday. As is the tradition in my family, I have created a portrait for their wedding gift which will be on display Saturday. Here is the quasi-finished painting. My question, is there anything glaringly wrong with the painting that could be easily altered in one day, tomorrow! I know the clothes are not finished, there is no detail and it will have to be painted after the wedding. But in a pretty frame it is not too noticeable???!!!

Thanks for looking. Hillary''s face is angled a bit differently from the reference photo because she is self conscious about her chin, so I made slight adjustments changing the "look" of the angle. Family members who know her say it still looks like her. I hope her mom thinks so!!

[Julie Deane]

Hi Patty,



Congratulations, mother of the groom!

This portrait is looking good!

I like the skin tones and the pastel colors very much, and the detailing in the clothing is coming along very well. There's a very nice three-dimensional feeling shaping up here! I think you can display it with pride as is. And they will LOVE it.....

Minor nit-picky things if you want to keep working on it:

Hillary: the highlight on the lips is quite bright, the contrast could be less

Your son: a bit more shadow under the chin? Also, the highlight in his eye is very very bright. Angle of the nostril?

But, like I said, these are nitpicky things.

[Debra Rexroat]

Other than the groom's nose (the tip) looking a little longer in the photo than the painting, changing his profile some, I love it! This is one of those cases where the painting has definitely surpassed the photo. Very nice.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks Julie and Debra for the input. I see the nostril and tip of the nose well in this photo. It is not quite as evident in the painting. I tried to lift his face up and change his gaze some, hers as well. I see that the highlight looks really bright on her lip and will change that Julie.

Kevin has the what we cal Joyce nose and Jack too said I underplayed it a bit. It may get some attention after the wedding. I am so glad to read that you both think it is ok for the wedding.

Thanks again!

[Sara Lasso Lopez]

If you are going to reduce the brightness down her nose, may be you could consider to do the same on her neck.

The photo gives me the impression that the back shape of the heads are quite flat and could use darker shadows. The same about your son

[Jean Kelly]

Patti, this tender and loving. Congrats to you and hope you make it thru the wedding! Will write more later.

Jean

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks, Jean. I appreciate your warm comments.

[Mike McCarty]

Hello Patricia,

You might try pushing her hair back away from his right eye a bit. I think this would help clarify his face a little more. Also, I would reduce the intensity of the dark line of her blouse. I've tried to make the hair adjustments with my crude editor. You could even go a little further and remove all the curls in front of his face. See what you think.

I agree about the highlights on and above her lip. I would reduce them ever so slightly.

Very nice job.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks Mike, it does look better without the curl in front of his distant eye. The wedding was yesterday and the portrait was a huge success. The greatest compliment I received was from her mother. I was most worried about her mother "recognizing" her own daughter. She absolutely loved it!! The kids do not want me to touch it! Fine with me. I did reduce the intensity of the highlights.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Overall I really like this a lot, but the shape of the top of his head in the portrait is very different from the photo.