My Three Girlies

Lon Haverly · 03-28-2002, 03:59 PM

15" x 30" oil. My wife and granddaughters. I used Walnut oil for most of this painting, alkid for early glazes. I took this photo last summer in my back yard. I liked the colors of the objects, and the way the light illuminated the. I could not resist the challenge of painting this with the bubbles and all. The hair color looks a little odd in the JPEG. It really is not as bright.

I painted this painting from the image on my computer monitor, after printing out the canvas sized image and transfering it to my canvas. The print-outs were too dull even on glossy high resolution, and could not show the true colors of the scene as well as the monitor did. Consequently, I painted this in my office!!! (A real risk for me - I am not the tidiest painter.)

I get frustrated with cleaning my palette on a painting like this which requires so many colors. So I found a 12" x 16" tracing pad and used it as a palette. I just tore off the palettes as I was done with them. I used about ten pages or more. This is a great way to paint if you are like me - impatient with messes.

I look forward to your critiques!

Lon Haverly · 03-28-2002, 04:02 PM

Here is a close up. This shows the hair color a bit better. I think it may be a little too light and bright, but I fear making it too dark. As a matter of fact, all the ocher colors are wacko here.

Lon Haverly · 03-28-2002, 04:03 PM

Reference photo.

Steven Sweeney · 03-28-2002, 07:18 PM

Nicely done, Lon. Cool bubbles!! Moment of enchantment well captured.

Just a couple of quick notes on the run for now. The dark downturned line of the mouth on the girl blowing bubbles doesn't seem to belong there. It isn't in the photo, as far as I can see, and anyway, when you pucker up and blow, the whole lip structure moves forward. That line right now is giving the girl's mouth a kind of fishy look (no offense meant to her).

I would add a small dark accent in the shadow area near the blue objects on the table, to "ground" them in the way you did the pink cup.

I occasionally use paper palettes, too, usually when I'm just doing a quick little touch-up. There are such palettes available at art stores (some in the "right shape", with a thumb-hole and everything), the slight advantage being that these use a kind of parchment paper that is likely not as absorbent as the tracing paper you're using. The hazard to be mindful of is that the paper can leech a good deal of oil out of the paint, potentially leaving the pigment somewhat underbound and weakening your paint layer. Not a huge concern, perhaps, but something to be mindful of, especially if your paints sit on the paper for a long time.

Steven

Lon Haverly · 03-28-2002, 09:48 PM

Great, Steven! I will do it!

(I don't know why the area around the nose of the baby as well as the eyebrows of same look so dark in the image.)

The paper really shows no signs of absorption! I do like those paper palettes. You can also refer back to them, and you can't do that when you wipe them off and start over again.

Whenever I finish a painting, I wish it was better. I can paint stuff, I just am weak in composition and creating something that is esthetic.

Steven Sweeney · 03-28-2002, 10:59 PM

Sorry to do this in piecemeal fashion but I'm just ducking back in here while some fixative dries . . .

I had the initial impression when I first saw the painting, and I still do, that the whites of your wife's eyes are too bright. You might consider graying them down ever so slightly.

You mentioned composition, about which two things occur to me. I'm not particularly bothered in this case by the "three heads in a line" set-up, especially since you've given the piece a kind of wide "vista" format, but in another case you might want to look for some triangulation of subjects, to encourage movement of the eye around the painting.

The other thing is, go to the image of your painting and cover up with one finger that blue-and-red drinking glass. Does it seem to you that getting the "weight" of that object out of there suddenly makes the space "airier" and encourages the eye to follow the bubbles through that space?

Just some more random thoughts . . .
Steven

Lon Haverly · 03-29-2002, 01:52 AM

Yup, I am going to think about taking it out. The more I look at this piece, the less I like it. Oh well. Practice, practice.

My wife agrees! The drinking bottle has to go.

Can you tell me any other way I could make this subject more esthetic? I intended it to be sparkling with joy, and instead it looks emotionally sterile.

Steven Sweeney · 03-29-2002, 11:15 AM

Lon,

I'll have to give you my near-midnight (where I am) quick take on your enquiry and then sleep on a more complete reply.

I think what you're sensing in the perceived lack of sparkle has to do with the source photo. You're trying to paint three brightly lit characters in the midst of enchantment, but the photo shows three back lit characters, whose faces are thus, for all intents and purposes here, in shadow. You're being forced to invent light on the faces that isn't there in real life, and gosh that's hard to do.

Once you remove the drinking bottle, I think you'll want to make sure the white sleeve gets put back into that space as accurately as possible -- I can see why the elbow is tucked in a little, as your wife supports the infant, but you might want to unscrunch it a little when repainting it, so that your wife's shoulder doesn't appear unnaturally narrow.

That's about all I can think of, this round.

Steven

Lon Haverly · 03-29-2002, 10:59 PM

I am considering putting a darker glaze over the whole background and the skin, and softening the hair and inverting it more. Wht say?

If I louse it up, no big deal.

Lon Haverly · 03-30-2002, 01:35 PM

How about this?