girl with horse

[Jane Bradley]

Recent portrait - oil on panel 24 X 24. There is a little reflection in the photo on the hair.

[Cynthia Feustel]

Hi Jane,

I am new to the forum so I feel a little hesitant to critique but here is my two cents worth. I just completed a commissioned painting of four horses in their pasture so this looked like a familiar subject to me along with some of the same concerns. I am actually getting ready to deliver the painting this morning in about an hour. What I noticed is that the depth of field seemed shallow. I did a quick change in Photoshop (of which I am really a novice at using) but thought it would illustrate my point th best.
Here are some changes.

I darken the shadow areas in the back ground trees on the left. I also darkened the small green area between the horses cheek and her arm , added a hint of green shadow under the fence and a little to the right of her back between the fence boards on top. I also added some shadow to the back arm to separate the two arms and give a sense of depth.

After saying all this, I must also add that you did a really nice job overall on this painting.

I must run now so as not to be late for my delivery.

Cynthia

[Jane Bradley]

Thanks Cynthia. I appreciate the input.. Most of the suggestions I think are good - I am not sure about the arms or the grass in between, I will have to think about that.
I hope your commission was received well.

[Linda Brandon]

Jane, I really love these squares that you're painting in! I also love the way you've handled the blonde hair. Very nice drawing and paint handling, too.

My quick reaction to this painting is that I'm confused about this girl's arms: where, exactly, is the one that is folded? Where is her hand? I guess what I'm saying is that as a viewer I don't like to be confused unless I feel for certain that the artist wants me to be that way. It just looks like a photo accident to me.

[Michele Rushworth]

I agree with Linda about the arms being in a confusing position. It looks like the two half-arms are somehow connected.

Also, this seems to be a very nice portrait of a horse with, oh by the way, a girl standing next to it. The horse is very much the focal point of the portrait. Not sure if that was the intention, but I suspect most clients would want the person to be the center of attention in a portrait commission.

It's nicely painted, though. Quite often what we choose to paint -- the pose, the composition, the lighting, etc -- has more to do with the success of a painting than how we paint it, however.

[Lon Haverly]

You have excellent skills! The girl, the horse are painted very well.

My only thought concerns the very tidy background. Perhaps a little messy nature would liven it up. Some weeds, or some textures. It is like a neat little fantasy storybook illustration in the background, and a realistic portrait in the foreground.

[Jane Bradley]

I had mentioned in another post that these paintings were all done in haste - I loved the relationship of the girl to the horse in the photo I took and loved the way she was standing and the look on her face -
.
That being said, I can't disagree that her arms are confusing and awkward. My question is, how do you avoid being so caught up with a certain aspect of a picture, that you lose site of other seemingly obvious problems. I also have wondered if the horse kind of took over the painting - in person it doesn't seem so much of a problem. Perhaps with this particular composition, when the horse is as large as it is, it would be difficult for the horse NOT to be the focus of the composition.
The background was entirely made up from my head - I should probably have used some reference - but I didn't want to get too detailed.
I reposted a picture of the painting at the beginning of the thread.
Thanks for all the great feedback.

[Mike McCarty]

My question is, how do you avoid being so caught up with a certain aspect of a picture, that you lose site of other seemingly obvious problems.

Jane,

I have never forgotten something Karen Wells said a couple of years ago. It's context was so casual and matter of fact, but it had a serious impact on me. She said something close to -- I don't worry so much any more about how to paint, I worry about what to paint. There's a lot going on in that statement for me.

Your execution seems pretty good to me, but execution will never win back a flawed design. I think the arms should have been a deal breaker, no matter how many other things were right.

To answer your question above .. when we are photographing a subject in a head and shoulder pose there are fewer details to consider. Fewer, but plenty. The collar, the hair, the shadowing on the face, the position of the nose, chin, maybe a hand to cheek. If you extrapolate these considerations to the much more complex composition that you have above it can seem a little overwhelming.

When the subject matter starts getting complex by exponential factors, more planning must be done. For example: trips to the site days in advance to scout the exact position of the subject in relation to the morning or afternoon light, the position of the subject in relation to the background, the relation of the subjects to one another, and other information that can only be obtained with a site visit. The data gathered from these expeditions can be used to formulated an overall plan of attack.

When the time comes you try your best to execute the plan. When you've exhausted (or ditched) that pose you then begin to improvise a second plan based on the real data that is before you. And you continue until everyone is exhausted or you are out of film.

It goes without saying that you shoot many (seemingly) duplicate shots of the same pose. And this goes directly to your question -- your biggest friend is repetition. No two images are exactly the same. What may be a deal breaker in one instance will be a prize winner one second later.

I strive to get the whole enchilada into one image. I hate having to combine images, background from here, hands from there. Your chances of success (unless you possess wizardry like others we know here) begin to diminish rapidly when you have to mix images.

I'm a big advocate of creating mock exercises. Simulations of real circumstances when it's on your nickle. Dream something up, gather the necessary characters and do it.

More planning, combined with repetition will reduce the need for luck. Then, luck will favor the prepared mind.

[Jane Bradley]

Thanks Mike for your detailed info. It will be very helpful the next time I have a photo shoot. This was an unplanned shot, however - done only as a demo for future horse/girl commissions (which actually worked out well, because at the show this weekend I received a commission as a result of the picture - I also got an order for a giclee of it from some grandparents who said it looked exactly like their granddaughter). I have thought about trying to repaint the arm, but at this point I think I will just move on and learn something from this excercise - to not get so enraptured with some element of a photo that I overlook other potential problems.