Stacy

[Kimberly Dow]

"I know I am not a great painter, but why does the way I view my paintings, while I am painting them, seem like I think I am?"



oh gosh, that made me laugh. It's the fumes! We all suffer from that. How else could we keep going?

Seriously though, I am finding that the longer I sit and stare at my paintings, the better they get. I have a chair set up across from my easel and will sit in it a lot. It's far enough back that I can see the whole, but not so close that I am right into the paint...maybe 5 feet from the easel. The longer I sit and stare, the more mistakes I find. Then I can fix them. And inevitably, I will think Im done, then post a painting...and find that Im not.

[Michele Rushworth]

This brings me to a question that may be good for another post. Why can't I see things wrong in my own paintings when I can in others? And, once my errors are pointed out to me I ask myself "Well, that was obvious, how could I have missed that?"

I can finish a painting and absolutely love it. Two weeks later I look at it and want to die.

I know I am not a great painter, but why does the way I view my paintings, while I am painting them, seem like I think I am?

I think every artist experiences this. Sometimes it helps to put a painting away for a while after it's "done". When you bring it out again a few days (or more) later, you can see it with a fresh eye. Even Leonardo da Vinci commented on this phenomenon, so you're not alone!

[Rob Sullivan]

I'm into this so far, Janel. I think you've already nailed what's up with the anatomy, but I'll put in my nickel's worth, if it may help to clarify.

Yes, the spine and musculature of the back is not described here. Handling the reflective light subtly will help explain the angle of her backside relative to the torso. Make sure the reflective light stays cooler than the light plane flesh tones. Neutrals are always a good standby for this kind of thing. And by "subtly," I mean keep the values compressed so the shadow plane on her back stays in shadow.

One thing you mentioned was the angle of her leg going toward the knee. I'm not getting the foreshortening, yet. Watch the structural connection where the hip flexor meets the quad (top of thigh). Making that planar change more obvious will help with form. Also, check your width of the knee relative to the thigh in your reference. It seems like it's narrowing too fast. When the knee bends like that, a lot of muscular material gets compressed and folded up, so it adds a bit of girth to an otherwise bony area. Also, get some reflective light up into the underside of the thigh using the ground color. Hue shifts in reflective lights allow the subject to fully connect to their environment.

Oh, this may be extraneous, but I think it's worth a mention: Watch the chroma in the ostrich feathers. Too much of that indigo, and it draws more attention to itself than the figure.

Your skin tones and the softness with which you're handling them are really great, so I'm confident you can go the distance on this one. Keep going!

[Kim, you know it's not the fumes - it's the booze ]

[Janel Maples]

Rob,

Your nickel's worth is GREATLY appreciated. It does help clarify things for me.

Let me share something with you about where the idea for this painting came from. My daughter was studying Greek Mythology in school. She told me the myth of where the peacock feather got it's eyes from. They are, according to the myth, eyes. So I thought it would be fun (maybe a little on the sassy side) to have them looking at the nude woman. All of these eyes, including ours, are all on Stacy.

But, if you find them distracting I should bring them down a bit. I don't want to take away from her.

Thanks again for your in put. I will be applying what you mentioned and I think it will help a great deal.

I confess, in posting this I also needed some reassurance that people liked it in order for me to continue with it. I'm not sure why I needed that, I know it should be enough that I liked the idea. I must be having an insecure moment and in need of a boost.

[Janel Maples]

I still have to work on some of the things that were suggested above but thought I would post my progress so far.

I had a few set backs the past couple of weeks so I haven't been painting as much as I would like. Hopefully, that will change.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Janel,

You are going in the wrong direction with the arms. I took the liberty of adjusting it a bit in Photoshop to show you where the adjustments need to be made. I hope you do not mind, otherwise forgive me!

In my opinion the hand is too large and I would take out the calibers and check the size again. The arm was too thick as well and the angle needed correction. I hope this helps

[Janel Maples]

Enzie,

Thank you for taking the time to point a few things out to me. Her hand is actually her hand plus part of her arm (count the fingers and
you will know where the arm starts) I am not sure if that is what you were pointing out with her hand being too big or not.

Here she is to date

[Janel Maples]

I am not sure what happened to my post, but I will try this again.
In it I thanked you Enzie, and don't worry, I'm not offended at all.

Here is another attempt at posting this.