"Take Five"

Steven Sweeney · 04-09-2002, 04:09 AM

Owing to a variety of plans and circumstances, my son and I will spend very little time together between mid-May and September. Though he is 13 now, keen observation suggests that he will be 21 when school starts again, and so I determined last week to get something of his present image and demeanor on canvas. It started out well enough and I had great expectations, but now I

Cynthia Daniel · 04-09-2002, 07:10 AM

Here it is Steven.

Peter Jochems · 04-09-2002, 07:18 AM

Hi Steven,

I like the moody atmosphere. I have a little suggestion but see for yourself what you do with it. The sax is a metal instrument, you can use the dark overall tone of the painting to make the sax extra shiny (is that proper english?, I'm sorry, it's not my native language).

To paint metal more convincingly the old masters used to make the parts around that metal darker, so it glowed in the dark. Perhaps you can do something like that in this work? Just a suggestion.

Greetings,
Peter

Peter Jochems · 04-09-2002, 07:30 AM

To clarify what I mean , I did a little 'retouching' of the image.
But see for yourself if this is what you want with the painting.

Peter

Steven Sweeney · 04-09-2002, 07:56 AM

Thanks, Peter, your point is very well taken, and in another context (a still-life, perhaps) I would have pushed the "metallic" quality of the instrument, but my challenge here was to represent the saxophone in somewhat muted tones and hues and somewhat soft edges, so that this didn't become a portrait of a saxophone. The low light situation already means that the face is keyed down somewhat, so I felt that everything else, even metallic reflection, had to be understated below the face values.

I haven't tried to paint a lot of metals -- this was a challenge.

By the way, the original painting's darks in the shirt are darker -- I had hit them with retouch varnish before photographing the piece, but of course that introduced some unwanted glare. So the sax actually has a bit more contrast to its background than may appear.

Thanks,
Steven

P.S. Later note . . . I'll sleep on your suggestion. Perhaps a bit more reflective vibration from the sax would be, um, instrumental. Or I could have a light beam trigger a John Coltrane ballad whenever a viewer stepped in front of the painting. But then there's the tenor-alto thing. Gilda Radner was right, it's always something.

Mike McCarty · 04-09-2002, 11:21 AM

I miss Rosanne Rosannadana, wasn't it Mr. Fader from New Jersey who wrote...? Getting into obscure ref. I like the tone and mood of your painting. It seems very well executed. I think you doing the artist/father/artist re-re-rethink.

Peter Jochems · 04-09-2002, 12:53 PM

I like the painting as it is anyway. Judging from the picture.If you finish it this way, it's a good painting I think. I wouldn't change too much in it.

greetings,
Peter

Karin Wells · 04-09-2002, 12:53 PM

I really like "dark, moody and atmospheric"...perfect for a young man who is just entering those interesting teen years.

I love this portrait!

Anyhow, I think that you have lost the unification of the light in his face...i.e., the left eyesocket is much too dark for an area that is surrounded by light.

Here is a crude (sorry) example of what I am talking about....in the picture on the right, I lightened your son's left eyesocket in Photoshop.

It is subtle, but I hope that you can see what I mean when you compare it to the unaltered pix on the left.

Shadows that are in the light are never as dark as a shadow in a dark area.

Jennifer Geary · 04-09-2002, 02:48 PM

A few words: Steven, you are one cool guy! I LOVE your portrait!

Cynthia Daniel · 04-09-2002, 02:54 PM

We all think Steven is cool...and we need to tell him so he keeps coming back and making his delightful contributions to the forum!