the Yellow Bucket

[Sara Lasso Lopez]

Julie, as it has been said great job with the lights and shadows. The head has been rendered with so much maestry and sensibility! In my opinion you have given a big step forward with this piece (may be because you have been forced to think more to fill the gaps of the image of reference?)

I wonder what final work we would have seen if you could have made the photo yourself.

Thanks for posting it!

[Julie Deane]

Thanks Natalie and Sara! You are very kind.

It would have been nice to have taken the photo myself, but
I live nowhere near the beach. I really wanted to work on something with bright outdoor coloring, and this was a fairly workable photo, so the end result was a portrait that made both me and the little girl's family happy.

I agree, Sara - I think the improvements have mainly been a matter of thinking things through (and taking loads of time to look and then look again). Marvin Mattleson's influence via his workshop has been a huge help, and Chris Saper's excellent book on skin tones helped me understand light better when I first started trying to paint portraits.

Slowly but surely for the past 8-9 years, working full-time but painting when I can, there's improvement.