Alla Prima

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Holly,I think it is very nice and well constructed, definetely the structure of the drawing underneath is convincing.The brushwork is lively and I think it is a well accomplished alla prima painting.
You also managed to paint the teeth, that I find always very disturbing, so that they 'fit in' very well.
Is this Nicole Kidman? It looks like her.
If I have to find a defect , to me it looks a bit too warm in the lights, and the orange is also enhanced by choosing a green background, maybe you could have greyed down some colours a little.

Many compliments, very painterly...
Ilaria

[Carlos Ygoa]

Holly,

I like the modelling of the head and the fresh feel of the whole painting. I can understand your not wanting to ruin the immediacy of it. One-shot, alla prima work is very hard to get right...looks like you've succeeded here.
If you were to put a gun to my head and say "critique!!" I would say that there is a faint diagonal across her neck from under her chin to where her loose strand of hair ends that kind of forms a triangle that at worst could be kind of distracting. But that's about it.
I've never done work from a monitor... gives me some ideas. I have, however, done sketches from the TV (interviews where they focus on the subject long enough) and have found it to be good exercise.
Once again: congrqatulations!

Carlos

[Marcus Lim]

Originally Posted by Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco

...The brushwork is lively and I think it is a well accomplished alla prima painting.
You also managed to paint the teeth, that I find always very disturbing, so that they 'fit in' very well...
... If I have to find a defect , to me it looks a bit too warm in the lights, and the orange is also enhanced by choosing a green background, maybe you could have greyed down some colours a little...
Ilaria

I second Ilaria's compliment that it's a very lively artwork, which complements the strength of the person's character. It's also icing on the cake with how you managed to get the teeth to fit in nicely. However, my concern is that the brushstrokes may have been too much of a good thing. Correct me if i'm wrong if my guess was that you used a small-sized round brush to work on the fine features, eg. blending the tones on the face?
What i'm trying to say is when it comes to painting heads only, we ought to find the 'magic spot' of that person's features, like the nose probably. Perhaps then the round brushstrokes can be well-used there, while the rest of the face can be appropriately "moved along", i.e. using a bigger dry filbert brush to blend.
I think what i've said might provide some reference points for your future works.

marcus