Painting of the Gymnast

Jennifer Geary · 01-07-2003, 08:51 PM

Hello, everyone!

Okay, many of you saw the source photo of this, and I just wanted to post the almost finished painting. I really struggled with the fact that it was a really bad photo to begin with, but as the subject of this painting is no longer with us, I had only this and a few school pictures to go with. I decided to paint this anyway, and give it my best shot at making a decent finished product. This is the HARDEST painting I have ever done. Thanks to all of you who critiqued and commented on the photo for this. Let me know if you approve of this painting. I have sent digital photos of the progress to the client, and she is very happy about it. If she is happy, I am happy. :-)

I know there are alot of hard lines and edges in the legs, especially. I am working on those.

Michele Rushworth · 01-09-2003, 05:36 PM

Jennifer, could you either post the source photo again here or put up a link to it? That would make it easier to critique.

Thanks!

Steven Sweeney · 01-09-2003, 10:57 PM

The reference photos and numerous posts are here, in the Resource Photo Critique section.

Chris Saper · 01-10-2003, 05:17 PM

Here's the resource.

Chris Saper · 01-10-2003, 05:37 PM

Hi Jennifer,

I have come back to your painting several times, in order to consider what suggestions I might have.

Given the history of this photo, you have done an admirable job with one of the most difficult resource photos I've ever seen. It looks like you have handled the foreshortening properly, as there is fortunately not much distortion in your source.

I think that the orange background is quite overpowering in its saturation. However, I think the value of the background works well, especially as it begins to approach the darkenining of the distant leg. The orange tones are carried throughout the skin tones, so there is little temperature relief; you may want to introduce some.

As you have recognized, the sharp lines are grabbing too much attention; it's hard to avoid this is an isolated silhouette, so you need to find deliberate places where the edes can be of differing hardness, even lost; there is probably a little too much reflected light on the blue crotch of her leotard. The forward foot has lots of hard edges, too, which makes it compete with the face for attention.

You might want to recheck the drawing of the musculature that forms the silhouette, most notably the arm on our left. Check also the shape of the silhouette of her head. I have the sense that her skull is coming to a point at the top, and that the features are perhaps a little too large for the size of the head.

The last point I would make is to look carefully at the "J"-shaped curve that is formed by the torso/hip/upper leg portion on her right. Rather than showing a concave curve, the line is more likely to consist of a series of convex shapes which together create the sense of a curve, but without concavity. I'll try to show you what I mean here in a detail. Perhaps you already have done this; if so with apologies, it just doesn't show on my monitor.

Peter Jochems · 01-10-2003, 06:37 PM

Hi Jennifer,

I would like to point at a few details in the face which, by making minor adjustments, could make the face more like her. I tried to illustrate this with a few green dots and lines.

The face is in the painting very round. The cheek on the (for us) left would benefit by adjusting it a little bit, giving it more definition of the form of her face. The right side of her mouth you could extend a little bit to the right. Her eye, for us on the right-side, is painted it a bit too low, as is with the eyebrow above the same eye. You painted her ear also a little bit too low. Special attention is needed on the jaw-line on the (for us) right; you extended the area of the reflected light there a bit too much below her jaw-line. I placed a few dots to show this.

Greetings,
Peter

Jennifer Geary · 01-10-2003, 11:12 PM

I have noted all of your changes/adjustments and will continue to work on this. Of course, after posting the painting, I noticed right away some problems. UGH! I am so frustrated with this painting! The darn source photo is awful, and I am having trouble 'seeing' what should be there.

Thanks, Chris and Peter, for your good eyes! This has been a learning experience, indeed. I definitely see your points and agree completely. Actually my hubby saw the same problems, and insisted I post this picture for your comments. (He is a rocket scientist, so what does he know, eh?) I should learn to trust his instincts! Thanks for taking the time to help me, I was pretty worried that this work would come off right. I am still worried, but have more confidence now.