Loretta, from life

[Dianne Gardner]

Sharon, I am ordering the book as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Marcus, please don't apologize. You didn't know and the information you gave me is valuable.

Best regards
Dianne

[Alexandra Tyng]

Dianne,

I really like this painting. It's true that simpler lighting would make the three-dimentional effect more convincing and easier to achieve. But I find the pattern of light and shadow on the model's face interesting.

There are two main issues that stand out for me.

1) The left side of the model's mouth (right side of painting) seems stretched out, and so does her entire jaw on that side. Of course this is just compared to the way she looks in the photo.

2) The background is distracting, especially the light, jagged shape in the top right. It actually breaks up into pieces that do not all read as being background. I would suggest you try for a more unified background, especially since her face is full of pattern.

I think you have done an excellent job under challenging lighting conditions.

Alex

[Dianne Gardner]

I will be painting on this again tomorrow and will take a closer look at the mouth. She has a little bit of a crooked smile that is very much her peronsality and I am attempting to capture it. But I certainly don't want it to make her face look distorted.

Sharon and Michele, I visited your websites and am truly impressed with your work. I have one question to ask you that has been gnawing on my mind for a long time. In all the contemporary portraits that I see today there is this deep beautiful dark in the background. What is that color? It couldn't possibly be black and I'm sure it is more than burnt umber. Do you mix a blue in with it and if so what kind?
I've yet to be able to mimic it.

Also, do you start with a monochrome painting and then glaze? I suppose there are other forums that deal with those questions and I will investigate them and hope I can find the answers.

Thank you for taking the time to help me.
Dianne