Reflections

Linda Brandon · 05-20-2006, 10:42 PM

Wow, Molly! What a lovely job with 1. challenging light conditions and 2. a challenging head angle as well. You've done a sensitive painting here, with a lovely introspective mood.

Molly Sherrick Phifer · 05-21-2006, 08:38 AM

Linda and Alex,

Thanks so much for the encouragement! This was a really fun piece for me to attempt, but I have to admit that months of working exclusively from life has spoiled me and I found it quite difficult to pull information from the photos. Thank goodness the subject lives under my roof! I never used to believe people when they would go on about working from life, but it is absolutely true. The only advantage I see with photos now, is that their pose does not alter much.

I can't imagine getting this far with my portraits without this forum or without the studies I have concentrated on.

Thanks again!

Richard Monro · 05-21-2006, 09:24 AM

Molly,
A beautiful model and a lovely painting. The skin tones in the face are spot on. What I really like about this painting is the focus. You have the eyes as the center of focus and soften and subjugate all other areas progressively from there. Well done!

Sharon Knettell · 05-21-2006, 12:00 PM

Molly,

This is absolutely your best. Your hard work and study shows.

Molly, I found out the same thing, unfortunately I do not have someone as lovely as your daughter under my roof. Every time I am tempted to buy something I think I need, I translate it into model hours.

Make her pay for her cell phone, prom gown, etc. with sittings!

A really beautiful painting.

Molly Sherrick Phifer · 05-21-2006, 07:44 PM

Thank you, Richard and Sharon,

Your kind comments mean a lot to me. I am lucky not only to have my lovely 16 year old daughter, but additionally, 15 and 11 year old daughters and 14 and 8 year old sons. All those kids at home can make it difficult to get anything done, but I do have a great source of models - all with different coloring, too.

Practically an entire portfolio!

Hard work and study pays off in more ways than I can enumerate. My enjoyment of the process of painting has skyrocketed.