Child in Garden - good or not?

[Allan Rahbek]

Tomasin,

I believe that the painting process can be divided in three parts: First, a hard one when you decide on the composition, second, the fun part where you try out color, value and texture, and the third and toughest is where you tighten up the whole thing and put in the accents, the darkest darks and highlights.

I feel that you need some accents, especially in the head and the near arm areas to make the figure stand out a little more.
I like your marks and colors and think that the light is wonderful too.

Have a look at Orpen, his accents are centered around the head and shoulder.

Accents could also be traces from the rough start of the painting like we see it in Degas. He would often rearrange a composition using coarse brush lines.
The hard task is to know what to hold and what to fold.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Thomasin,

I agree with Allan that the hardest part is the last stage of a painting, when you have to do a lot of standing back and carefully evaluating everything you have done and what you might want to do. In a way, that is exactly what you are doing by asking the question here.

I think you have done a remarkable job of painting outdoor light, and describing the feeling of it! You would not want to ruin that! My reaction is this: my eye first goes to her face (positive sign), but then I feel slightly let down because I do not see what I expect to see there. I'm not expecting carefully delineated features, but maybe a warmth in the "deepest" part of the shadow, around her eye/nose area, and maybe a suggestion of eye. Some yellow-orange mixed in with the blue would add depth without making it too dark.

This is very hard to do without going too far, but I think you of all people are capable of it. You might want to hang the painting up for a while in your studio and think about it before doing anything.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Thank-you Allan and Alexandra. The face on the boy (yes, he's a boy - my son, and has curly blond hair, so Mama hates to cut it) was the first thing that worked after the usual weeks of struggle and destruction, and so, being human, I didn't want to touch that. But then the background needed work - or, rather, needed putting in because, again, I am human and didn't put it in at the same time as the face (oh the horror). And when working on the background I was much more conscious of what I was doing and trying to repeat what went before and so it began to stand out more than the face and so on and so forth ... The thing is, I can't just put in an eye because that's like defusing a bomb for me - one false move and the painting's dead! I don't have the nerve. Might as well just deliberately euthanase the thing and start again. I am actually beginning to look forward to this starting again business, which is probably a good thing because it takes up so much of my painting time.

(This forum is like a studio wall in an artists' community. Put up your works and let your peers have a look. I am really benefitting from it.)

[Sharon Knettell]

Thomasin,

The color and feeling of light and life are beautiful.

One of the thing I had to learn how to do was to slow down. Each brush stroke should be an expression of wakefulness, of consciousness.

Trying to paint loosely does not mean whipping around a canvas at the speed of light. Each brush stoke can be very deliberate and take time to put down. One brushstroke done with awareness has more power than a plethora done in a frenzy. That way you have time to relay the feeling you have of the subject into your stroke and the whole piece becomes a reality, a living entity on it's own rather than a a copy of what is in front of you.

After a while the brushstrokes will come with more confidence, more accuracy and deftness. But remember deftness and facility alone are all to common and unfortunately worshiped as an end in themselves. It is a personal and original point of view, plus mastery that is very, very rare.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell

Each brush stroke should be an expression of wakefulness, of consciousness.

I've been thinking of this lately too. Someone told me to let my subconscious take over with my paintings, but I had to disagree. I think that really painting, like doing any form of art properly, comes from the beginnings of consciousness, a vision (with visual art) before it is explained by received symbols i.e words, pictures already in existance. I am not sure about the subconscious - is it only a Freudian idea or truly a human reality? And, in fact, it isn't really relevant at all because making a visual reality of a so-called subconscious idea takes it into the realm of consciousness. It's a bit like hypnotising yourself or drugging yourself, or even squinting to get a blurred and "more simple" idea of a subject. You're not going through the necessary mental struggle to achieve a real advancement.

[Alan Melson]

As I first glanced at it I thought immediately of Frank Bensons paintings of his daughters and models. And then as I scrolled down lo and behold someone else makes a comment and nice reference.

I like the soft edges but I would love to see some accent colors in the face just a little as mentioned too. With the blue colors in the clothes and background it begs of a little orange here and there from my viewpoint. You do say a lot with a little though in your painting and that means a lot to me.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Thank-you, Alan. I appreciate what you said about suggesting with the paint rather than describing with too many details. That is my intention with painting.

Unfortunately this painting has turned into "Mother with Child", which I posted on the "member paintings from life" thread. But with all the encouragement about, and suggestions for bettering, "Child in Garden" I'll probably do another one.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell

... a personal and original point of view, plus mastery ... is very, very rare.

Is this a challenge?