Posthumas portrait

[Brenda R. Robson]

Thanks so much, good advice. I have made those changes.
B

[Brenda R. Robson]

It is ironic but the client wanted the shirt brightened and the pictures on the table brighter and clearer, go figure.
Thanks
Brenda

[Steven Sweeney]

Clients! Who knows what to do with them?!

But for the discrete, high-valued objects, the overall key is very (very) low (and it will likely darken over time) and the value range extremely limited. So without having seen the piece after the amendments, I can't be sure, but I can imagine that going a little too far in muting the highest values may have plunged the entire painting into the dark, so that a protest would be understandable.

If beginning from the beginning, rather than fiddling with an essentially completed work, I would have worked to get more of the piece (most of it, in fact) into a mid-value range, using darks and lights, then, to fill out the individual and overall form and sense of depth and atmosphere -- notwithstanding the "reading" that the reference photo was providing.

[Garth Herrick]

Hi Brenda,

Steven's thoughts are great; I am glad you could incorporate some of them and I hope the client eventually appreciates all you have done to balance this portrait. Posthumous portraits are never easy!

I have some thoughts too, but they are not practical to incorporate now that you are about finished. Basically I have the same response as Steven. In a future portrait, I'd recommend making the subject more a central focus, with all in the background more subordinated. I wonder if you need the entire fireplace mantle, which commands more central attention than your subject. Another bothersome part of the composition to me is the overlay of the group photo completely contained in the fireplace. With the contrast of the firebox framing the photo, it is the first thing I see, and it almost appears to be odd, having the family photo effectively on the coals (I know it isn't, but it does look that way at first). If your client is happy with everything then leave it alone. These are thoughts to consider for your next composition.

I wish you the best,

Garth