Two new portraits

[Linda Brandon]

laria, I'm so happy to see how beautifully these turned out - those colors are so clear. I would love to see how you work on site with your palette - one of these days, when you're working, could you take a photo of your palette?

I also enjoyed the hi-res photos. I love those wandering reddish lines and the drawn-in boundary line of the arm. There's a playfulness and a sketchy, linear quality that really fits in well with the youthful girls.

I have been painting some girls in sleeveless dress myself and I know what you mean about little girls arms - it's not as if there's much muscle to triangulate from,.

So lovely - I am really glad your clients let you have your own way with them.

[Carlos Ygoa]

Ilaria,

Wonderful and intelligent use of the horizontal format in composition!And very daring of you to do this and pull it off very well. I will echo the others and say that I like the pout very much and am quite envious that you got your way with it ... I am very tired of having pouts and serious expressions commented on in a negative way with my work--as if these expressions were not part of the human condition, so good for you; you did well!

Your use of colour is also very enviable and nothing more appropriate for the subject matter: the lightness and the alegr

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Lovely portraits, Ilaria. I really appreciate the younger girl's face, which is articulated through colour and form equally. You have some excellent colour that works very well with the paint parks and ideas for the portraits.

I think what you might need to be more aware of in future works is the lines and shapes which echo the right angles and horizontal/vertical lines of the canvases. It tends to make the composition a little obvious and unexciting. Something that completely counters the canvas shape, and also perhaps moves forward in the third dimension - not just an illusion of form but an actual compositional line coming forward into the viewers space is very dynamic.

Carolyn Bannister's "Don" is an excellent example of using this three-dimensional compositional line, and that is what makes it so strong.

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Linda, Carlos, Thomasin, thank you very much for your replies.
Linda I promise I will take a photo of my messy palette !

Carlos, finishing the portrait of the three boys I posted here before these two gave me strength. Some times convincing a client is a matter of how confident one is, it takes a firm smile.
For me is quite a rare achievement; I am currently working on the typical "commission from hell " project: everything you should avoid, demanding, bossy and always unavailable client who thinks he knows about painting and a terrible reference photo. He bullied me into saying yes.

Thomasin, thank you for your suggestion. I will try and experiment with dynamic lines in my still lifes and see how it works. The concept is very interesting, although I would have to find a way of combining it with this idea of flatness and drawing which is superimposed on painting, and find a role for this type of line in the economy of the work.