Anna

Garth Parker · 05-08-2005, 07:10 PM

Hi Linda,
This little canvas is already 1/2

Linda Brandon · 05-10-2005, 01:28 AM

Aarghhh! Not the palette, the Winton! Bad student stuff, your work is too good for this. Get the good stuff if at all possible, you will be amazed at the difference.( And get a good arm-held palette too.)

Here's what I think: you have really good painting and drawing skills and a strong affinity for outdoor work. Please work from life outdoors before you decide what colors to put on your palette. I vote for an impressionist palette. Don't try to make up something from your photos. The great beauty of outdoor light and shadow on human skin is the color complexity in the shaded side.

I don't like this photo because I don't think it would be a very attractive pose for a typical American family to choose for their child, and I want you to start painting work that will win them over to YOU. Think: happy, innocent, wistful, charming, free, fresh, all those adjectives beloved by Americans. I hate to write this but I think it's true. I am a big fan myself of "serious", even grim, children's portraiture but fresh and winsome generally takes the cake.

By all means keep this lovely portrait hanging around - you may have found your own style and have tons of buyers flocking to you and that would be terrific - but I think your next one should be more "commercial" in intent.

Garth Parker · 05-10-2005, 10:19 AM

Wow,
This is what most artists starting out or longing to improve are looking for here. With Chris

Michele Rushworth · 05-10-2005, 05:07 PM

Hi Garth,

I like the look of outdoor subjects in dappled sunlight. However every one that I've seen (and therefore the ones that I've done) has the dappling of the light and shadows on every part of the figure EXCEPT the face. Typically you'll see the face placed in complete shade. You can accomplish this by posing the subject under a tree or whatever and have someone else hold a piece of foam core casting a shadow across the subject's face. The randomly shaped shadows can come across as bruises, dirt or other skin discoloration and may make the painting less commercially viable, as Linda suggested.

Garth Parker · 05-11-2005, 10:05 AM

Hi Michele,
Thank you for your shadowing advice. The colors in the first post could be interpreted as bruises. I have the luxury of experimenting with most of my paintings. Consider this experiment a fishing expedition with no bites. Don

Rob Sullivan · 05-11-2005, 10:58 AM

I have to chuckle at Linda's reaction to the Winton paint. She's absolutely right - it's fairly lousy, and student-grade. I mean, freshman year art school student-grade. I concur again that your work deserves better.

The Winsor-Newton professional grade is a big step up, but it is not as good as it was 5 years ago. They seem to have changed the formula. I've been slowly converting out of these into Old Holland. Pricey, but way more pigment to vehicle in the mix ratio. Just to experiment, get a tube of Old Holland titanium white first, since it's not ridiculously expensive, and you'll see a massive difference in opacity, tinting strength and consistency.

Chris, Linda and Michele are dead on in their critiques of the piece, so I won't add anything for fear of redundancy. Be very grateful that this excellent trio have commented here; they are razor sharp in their insights - total pros. I know I'm grateful.

Lompoc? Is it really like how Rex Pickett descibes it?

Michele Rushworth · 05-11-2005, 01:58 PM

Quote:

I shall try to make my next post look more commercial.

Only do that if that's what you really want for your artwork. If you're creating "art for art's sake" then anything goes. I have decided that most of my portraits will be "commercial" in style because I decided to make this my "job". If that's not your situation, then paint whatever you like, of course!