Untitled

Holly Snyder · 07-01-2004, 04:00 PM

Hi,

This is a 16" x 20" of my sister. This was difficult, as she wasn't particularly fond of posing while I took pictures of her, so I had to change her expression to add a slight smile. Never again. Anyway, I'd love any critiques, especially in the area of warm/cool modeling..

Thanks again.

Holly

Marvin Mattelson · 07-01-2004, 07:57 PM

This is your best painting to date. The modeling and edges are very well done. Two suggestions. One, the dark lines at the corner of her mouth need to be lightened and look more subtle. They are too severe and don't enhance her smile. Second, the background to our left is too contrasty. It pulls my eye away from the light on her face.

I'm always happy to see you just painting and not trying to be painterly. Be the best Holly you can be. This is a big step.

Mary Sparrow · 07-02-2004, 07:51 AM

I'm not qualified to critique anyone, but I just wanted to tell you that I agree with Marvin. This is the best painting I have seen of yours, it is really wonderful!

Kimberly Dow · 07-02-2004, 05:13 PM

Holly, this is wonderful! The only thing I notice that bothers me is that her forhead is so yellow compared to the rest of her face. Good work!

Holly Snyder · 07-03-2004, 09:44 AM

Marvin,

I think I figured out that the only way I can ever paint "painterly", such as in the effortless looking paintings by Philip De Laszlo, is to first paint detailed with the goal of understanding how to model the face. It'd be so cool to be able to look at a person and know exactly what to do to create the form (warm/cool, hard/soft edges, important/unimportant areas), instead of experimenting on the canvas. Ultimately, I'd like to be able to paint an area with what would take De Laszlo one stroke, instead of my 30 blended strokes. Thank you for the comments and pointers.

Mary,

Thank you, I'd always appreciate your critiques and input.

Kim,

Good point, thank you!

Holly

Mike McCarty · 07-03-2004, 11:02 AM

Quote:

first paint detailed with the goal of understanding how to model the face.

Beautiful painting Holly,

I think I understand your complaint. I find myself somewhere along this same evolutionary ladder. I was always drawn toward the very painterly approach, but, I never had the courage, or self confidence, to touch it and leave it alone.

I wonder, and I have no basis for this other than my own experience and the comments of you and others, if the great "painterly" artists did not take this same evolutionary path. I find more and more that after I have established the form and I am confident with my direction, I am then able to create brush strokes and just just let them be. But those strokes are placed on top of a painting that already exists. They are not the first strokes.

It's as if I first had to paint the molecule of the eye, the mouth etc., before I could proceed. I've now moved on to painting a collection of molecules all at once, maybe theres hope. Of course there's always the chance that we may end up exactly where we think we want to be, only to find that we really don't like it there at all, and start working our way back down the ladder (or would it be up the ladder?) If that's true, at least we'll be heading to a place that we understand.

I think it also has a lot to do with becoming attuned to your palette. What I mean is that in any given session there comes a time (not the first 30 min.) when you fully understand where your colors are, exactly what your mixes consist of. I think this facilitates the ability to place that perfect color / value on the canvas and just let it be. For me this indicates that painting only in short bursts of time, instead of longer sessions, can be counterproductive.