Madamoiselle M

Clive Fullagar · 12-02-2002, 12:49 AM

Well, two of the four threads that I have posted on this Forum have been closed, so I am hoping that this one will generate a little less passion but hopefully the same interest.

This is a portrait that I have just completed of my daughter, Megan, entitled 'Madamoiselle M'. (The paint is still wet, hence the "glisten" on the photo. My apologies.) The reference to Sargent's "Madam X" is intentional, although it is primarily to content rather than style. In JSS's portrait we see a woman who is self-assured and extremely proud. In my daughter (17 years old here) I see a girl who is far more unsure, shy and awkward than Sargent's model. Although the pose is similar in both paintings, the way the subjects hold the pose tells us an enormous amount about their character.

One of the challenges that confronted me in this painting was the black dress. I actually used very little black in the dress, and relied more on viridian, dioxazine purple, and magenta. I was rather pleased at the way it turned out -- perhaps a little too well, from a portrait's perspective, as the dress tends to steal the show.

I will also post the source photograph. One thing (amongst many) that I have learned from this Forum is the importance of the source photo. This is not a good one and was taken before I became a member here. I also usually do not just take one photo, but several of various parts of the model.

Please tell me what you think. The dimensions of the painting are 30" x 20".

Clive Fullagar · 12-02-2002, 12:52 AM

Here is the source photo. You can see the cropping decisions that I made.

Steven Sweeney · 12-02-2002, 03:49 AM

You're a brave man, Dr. Fullager!

The closures were to salvage your contributions, and those of others in reply, not to comment in any negative way on them. I'm sure you can appreciate that. A bit of fun and light-heartedness and earnestness will get us back on track in short order.

Stay tuned, keep working, and don't go away. We may be a School of the Air, but we're the only school some folks have.

Mari DeRuntz · 12-02-2002, 10:29 AM

Hi, Clive,

Beautiful composition, the eye enters the piece at the chair, and travels in a graceful s-curve up the arm to her face. You have an excellent natural eye for composition, and as advanced study, you could do a search on this Forum for any posts where Peggy Baumgaertner has touched on this interesting aspect of portraiture.

I

Peggy Baumgaertner · 12-02-2002, 11:01 AM

Clive,

Is your photo of the portrait scanned too light? It seems the different areas, dress, skin, background are all a little washed out. If the scan is correct, I would start there. If it is indeed too light, could you repost it?

Compositionally, the shadow behind the figure is too small and close. She appears to be leaning against the back wall. Even if that was your intention, I would fan the shadow area out behind the chair and out of the painting on the left. This would give the figure some breathing room.

On the dress, I wouldn't be afraid of going dark. Because it is a black dress, and it is in the foreground, it will be the darkest value in almost any painting you will do. In the painting, the background appears darker than the dress. This would not happen even if the background was also "black" (a drape, perhaps), because atmosphere would make the background go to a lighter value.

Peggy

Clive Fullagar · 12-02-2002, 03:21 PM

Peggy,

Following your suggestion I have rescanned the image, taking the photo outdoors in Northerly light.

Mari, I think that this tones down the aggressivness of the background and provides a greater value range.

What a difference a scan makes!

Peggy Baumgaertner · 12-03-2002, 01:02 AM

Thanks for re-scanning, Clive.

The dress is very successfully rendered, although it doesn't read "black," it does work very well. In future paintings, you might want to push a "black" dress to a value darker.

The skin tones are a little too cool. Although there is a smattering of orange on the cheeks and at the shadow of the arm, the rest of the body is too pale and too light. It is lacking in chroma. This is especially apparent with the strong warm value in the background. I would like to see some of that chroma and warmth in the skin tones. You also want the figure to be the star, not the background.

The head.

Again, it might be partially due to the scan, but I see no "oomph" in the hair. This is the place to shine. You can get some very dark values in the hair in the shadow and the light. I would like to see as much attention to the head as I see in the dress, the same sense of roundness and form. I would separate the hair from the background. (Lighten the background behind the head...) and round out that head.

She has a beautiful shaped head in the photograph, so the reference material is there. In the photograph, her eyelashes, eyes, nostrils and mouth are darker. This would also be an opportunity to add "oomph" to the face. Often you will find yourself painting blue eyed, light skinned blondes, and finding contrast in the face will be difficult, but your model has beautiful coloring.

Clive, this painting is working out so well, but the face is just not as strong as it could be. Often when an artist is working with a piece with this complexity, it is easy to get caught up in the entire painting, and not give the attention to the face that one would if it were a head and shoulders portrait. It might not be a bad idea to do a head and shoulders of just her head, and really try to do a wonderful stunning portrait of just that. It would be possible to work out the bugs, and go back into this portrait. This piece has the opportunity to be so strong, a stunning sample portrait.

You've actually done the hard part -- great, interesting composition, beautiful model, interesting pose, the chair works nicely. I would love to see you stretch yourself to really nail this one.

First step, take the photograph of your daughter to Walmart or similar store, and have them make several exposures of the negative. Because her face is washed out (probably due to the instrument reading of the black dress, which throws the reading off), I would have them give you several darker exposures, tell them you want a -3, -5 and -7. Pick the exposure that gives the most information on your daughter's head. (The dress will totally black out, but that's okay, you've already painted it.) You can also get enlargements of just the head.

I'd be willing to walk you through this, if you would like me to.

The hand on the chair also needs some work, but that's another post.

Peggy

Clive Fullagar · 12-04-2002, 01:40 AM

Mari,

Thank you for your kind words and advice. I think that you and Peggy actually point to essentially the same issues in the painting. There is generally a flat appearance to the figure that makes the painting a little bit like those old portraits of children who were depicted usually throttling some unsuspecting animal (typically a bird)!

This is something that I will definitely have to work on. At this stage I think I will leave the decisions about the dress and the background until I am happy with the face and arms.

Peggy,

I would really appreciate your "walking me through" this one, although I must warn you that the last time someone did this on this Forum ... well, that's another thread.

In terms of source material, I do have a very good close-up of the face that I know will provide me with a way to address the issues that you have raised concerning the depiction of the face and hair.

Specific questions:

Quote:

The skin tones are a little too cool. Although there is a smattering of orange on the cheeks and at the shadow of the arm, the rest of the body is too pale and too light. It is lacking in chroma. This is especially apparent with the strong warm value in the background. I would like to see some of that chroma and warmth in the skin tones. You also want the figure to be the star, not the background.

As a new artist I want to ask you some questions about palette. The approach that I have taken so far is to treat the light as warm and the shadows as cool. Hence the lighter skin tones consist of Cadmium Scarlet, Cadmium Lemon, Sap Green and probably too much Titanium White (all Winsor & Newton) with the darker tones created by adding French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Viridian, Cadmium Lemon and Cadmium Scarlet. What other colors would you recommend to "strengthen the face" and improve the "chroma?"

Once I have found an appropriate palette, darkening the eyelashes, nostrils, mouth and eyes will not be a problem.

One issue that Mari raises is the consistent sharpness of line that gives the figure a cut-out quality. Are there any lines in the face that you feel should be softened?

I agree, the hair does lack life. I think I will be able to work on it and to round out the back of the head at the same time (which would include introducing a slight 'aura' behind the head).

Quote:

I would love to see you stretch yourself to really nail this one.

The reason I joined this Forum was to be "stretched" by the some of the best teachers. I enjoy "stretching." Once again, thank you for your encouragement.

Peggy Baumgaertner · 12-04-2002, 02:18 AM

Quote:

the lighter skin tones consist of Cadmium Scarlet, Cadmium Lemon, Sap Green and probably too much Titanium White (all Winsor & Newton) with the darker tones created by adding French Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Viridian, Cadmium Lemon and Cadmium Scarlet. What other colors would you recommend to "strengthen the face" and improve the "chroma?"

Clive,

Looking over your skin tones, I like your choice of colors in the lit surface. I would also add Cad red or Quinacridone rose. These colors are sufficient to cool the heat you might encounter with all that scarlet and yellow. The main problem with your skin tones is they are too light. They have "whited out." (Chroma refers to color, when I say it needs more chroma, I mean more color.) It is an easy fix, just put some color back into the whited out areas. Your choice of colors in the shadows are also good. It becomes more a question of balance. How much of each color and what value/temperature.

Quote:

One issue that Mari raises is the consistent sharpness of line that gives the figure a cut-out quality. Are there any lines in the face that you feel should be softened?

I'd like to see both a close up of the head in the photograph and in your painting, and we can start from there. It's too difficult to see detail from the entire painting. The head has to have a strong three-dimensionality before you start to think about edges.

Hawthorne used to talk about "rotundity". I like that word. There is a solidness to it. You want the head to be rotund.

I will be going out of town for a few days, I'll be back on Tuesday, but I'll see if I can check in to see how you are doing.

Peggy

Clive Fullagar · 12-11-2002, 11:55 AM

Well, here is the next step. I have basically followed Peggy's guidelines here and tried to work on getting more chroma in the face and work on the hair. The hair is bothering me a little - it looks like treakle or bark. Any suggestions would be welcome. Sorry about the scans - it is really overcast here in Kansas today. I tried to take a shot in Northerly light but it did not turn out too well. Actually, the color in these scans is not too bad. I will post the full image first and then a close-up of the head and shoulders.