My Mom

[Holly Snyder]

Hi,

This is a 16x20 painting of my Mom. I hope to show it to her (on the web) as a surprise for Mother's day. Please feel free to let the critiques rip! Marvin has very kindly critiqued a couple of my paintings in the past, and one thing I always appreciated is he never seemed to hold back what he really thought. Sometimes hard to hear, but the best way to learn.

Cheers,

Holly

[Hanna Larsson]

Ooh! I like this one very much. The soft choice of colours are very plesant. It gives the impression that your mom also is very plesant and kind, and I

[Jimmie Arroyo]

I believe this is a bit too good for critiques, unless of course it doesn't look like your mom, that is. I'm sure it does! This belongs in the Unveilings. Great job.

[Mike Dodson]

I certainly can't find anything to critique in this one, it is a very beautiful, sensitive painting.
As Hanna has already pointed out, you have aged her very gracefully without rendering a vast amount of detail. The flesh tones are very life-like and lively. I also like how her blouse matches her flesh color. I think I even see some reflection of the blouse onto her right cheek/hair. Great color harmony here! Could you discuss your palette a bit?

[Marvin Mattelson]

Beautiful and sensitive. My only suggestion wold be to have less variation of values in the shadow areas, in particular her cheek. This will further strengthen an already powerful effect.

[Josef Sy]

Lovely. I am very sure she will love it.

[Holly Snyder]

Hi Hannah - I did take artistic liberties with this one. She looks at least 10 years younger than in real life, but I don't think she'll mind : ).

Thanks Jimmie - But there's always something to be learned, and I can only hope to always be learning it! True to form, Marvin (who has an amazing eye), gave me a pointer. If I'd posted in the Unveilings, I probably wouldn't have learned that little bit of info.

Mike - I think part of the why this works is it is a very simple palette, with a complementary color harmony (red/pink and green/blue), with the red/pink dominant. Can you tell I have Chris Saper's book? I used alizarin crimson, terra rosa, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna (just a touch), burnt umber, and flake white.

Marvin - Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks all,

Holly

[Holly Snyder]

Thanks Josef, Richard and Linda for your kind words. Linda, I have been thinking of trying similar colors (either the Gamblin Asphaltum that I think Whitaker uses, or Rembrandt transparent oxide brown that Schmidt and Weistling use) to replace burnt sienna and burnt umber. I don't like the way burnt sienna and burnt umber "sink in" the next day, and I'm hoping that these other colors don't do that?

Regards,

Holly

[Lynn T. McCallum]

Now I know why I haven't heard from you lately.
Very nice!
She is going to love it! She's going to cry! You know that, don't you?

[Garth Herrick]

Two thumbs up, Holly! I think it's ready to present. Congratulations,

Garth