The Admiral

[Michele Rushworth]

Tom, thanks for being so generous in your explanation of the process. Very helpful!

I am amazed at the amount of cobbling together you had to do with all the different reference material. Not that it's unusual for an artist to have to do that, but you've assimilated the various elements, the environment and lighting so well together that it looks like a completely believable, unified environment. You made it look effortless, which I know it wasn't.

I concur wholeheartedly about Marvin's comment: the whole painting looks very real without being photographic.

I was also wondering about your lighting. Thanks, Linda, for bringing that up. What kind of equipment did you use? Do you have two soft boxes, one for the main light and one for the fill? And did you use a "snooted" accent light as your skim light on the right edges? I may have a couple of VIP portraits coming up in the next few months and I'm trying to learn everything I can to prepare. If these commissions happen I'll be buying some serious lighting equipment, so I was wondering what you use.

Thanks again for sharing this beautiful painting with us, and the information about your process.

[Garth Herrick]

Tom,

Let me also congratulate you on this fine portrait. I too agree with everyone's comments. Your brilliant solution to the composition and setting of this portrait is so natural and comfortable, so that the viewer would never detect the trouble you took to conceptualize and unify all the disparate elements. I also appreciate your soft toned and not too photographic realism. Bravo!

Garth

[Tom Edgerton]

Michele--

I'm a dinosaur in that I like tungsten floods. A number of artists have recommended various strobes to me, notably the White Lightning brand--saying that the modeling lights correspond closely to the final strobe results. But I like to see what I'm going to get in advance; it makes it easier to experiment for me. I use a large softbox for the main light, a conventional umbrella for the fill, and a cheap tungsten bulb in a cheap aluminum reflector for the skim light if I use one (I don't always), with barn doors--not "snooted"--to keep it from reflecting into the lens.

When I go outside, I use natural light. It's a lot trickier and less predictable, but I just haven't seen a convincing painting that has an artificially lit subject with an outdoor background painted in behind. I'm sure someone's done it, but I can't seem to pull it off to my satisfaction.

I'm looking forward to going digital, in that I will be freer to experiment in "grab it and go" situations, and won't have to rely so much on the same approach. Painting personal pieces helps here also.

Hope this is what you wanted.

Garth--

This is high praise, given what you've been posting. Thanks so much. If I might be hit with your lightning, I'd stand outside a lot.

Best--TE

[Michele Rushworth]

Thanks, Tom, for that information. Very helpful!

[Elizabeth Schott]

Tom you are such a master with a uniform. This one will win you some wonderful kudos!

It is just lovely, I wish I could see it up close and personal.

Beth

[Linda Nelson]

ditto what Marvin said

beautiful work, Congratulations Tom
Linda

[Renee Price]

Tom,

This is absolutely wonderful--my new favorite painting of yours! This is how uniforms and suits are supposed to look in paintings. I especially love the skin tones. You've obviously mastered the palette! Did you venture beyond the palette when creating these lifelike skin tones?

I hope you will enter this painting in upcoming competitions; I predict prizes in your future!

take care,

Renee

[Tom Edgerton]

Thanks, Renee--

As usual for me, the palette is an amalgamation of all of my influences. I tend to put out what I perceive I need dictated by the environment and light I'm trying to capture, rather than starting with a set of mixtures.This is both good and bad. It means I benefit from all of the traditions and practices that have gone before me, but it also means a lot of feeling my way from painting to painting. It betrays a lack of discipline, maybe, but keeps me learning. Perhaps it's the best I can do.

Skin tones will bedevil me 'til they carry me away. Sometimes I'm on it, sometimes not. I'm not sure it's a function of palette as much as it is maximizing painting from life. I only know it's way easier to capture something believable when the person's there. I'm never totally happy with my skin tones painted from photography. So I try to always at least finish from life unless it's a posthumous piece.

Thanks again--TE