My late father

[Mike McCarty]

Will,

After I cropped the image, attending only to the business of leaving what I thought were comfortable proportions, I then noticed that I was left with a square. My mind then went back to a lesson I received in a previous post, the one that Chris so expeditiously included above. As you will see in my opening of that post, I was biased against square compositions. There are some good lessons in that post and frankly, I wasn't sure if the square I generated violated any of the tenants of that lesson. But to my eye it looked pretty good.

[Steven Sweeney]

There appear to be two schools of thinking emerging on this subject - one led by you, and the other led by my wife.

Yeah, Will, I

[Steven Sweeney]

In any event, your project here brought to mind a famous photograph entitled "Grace". There may be some useful information or inspiration here:

http://www.gracebyenstrom.com/gallery.html

Apparently the photographer's daughter began at some time to hand paint the photos for sale, hence the appearance on the site that this is a painting.

Cheers

[Will Enns]

Have you seen Karin Wells' fantastic work, showing the name of the person behind the figure?

Chris,

How could I miss Karin Wells' works? They stand out like beacons. In a field full of beacons, I might add. Dare I mention them all? The list would scroll off your screen onto your lap and get tangled in your feet, probably causing you to trip when you went to get some eyedrops to relieve the strain from reading the list.

And then you would have to sue me, and I can't afford that. So we will dispense with the list and talk about Karin's unique treatment of text, which is most intriguing.

If I should employ this device, an obvious question arises - what should it say?
"Cornelius, Man of God" is a possibility that would give a clue to what he is reading.
I know he would have wanted to be remembered that way.

Considering the potential impact of the painting, it seems to me a signature would be inappropriate in such a prominent role.

This is worthy of careful consideration. Thank you so much for the suggestion.

[Will Enns]

Chris Saper said,

Last, the photos present a color temperature problem. They contain no cool colors to counterbalance the powerful warms created by this extremely warm light source. Finding subtle places to place cools in the shadows may create some visual relief.

Chris, I'm glad you mentioned this. I was concerned about it, but don't know just how to resolve the problem. I've completed the sketch much as Mike suggested in the square format and am nearly ready to start applying color. (Will attach the reference photo here for simplicity.)

1) Here is the first question, and I am interested in hearing from anyone who knows. If this were your project, what cool colors would you use in conjuction with the warm colors in the reference?

2) Also, I read (I think on this Forum) that if a light source is warm, the shadows should be cool; conversely, if the light source is cool, the shadows should be warm. How does one arrive at the most ideal colors in this respect?

[Mari DeRuntz]

I don't know anything about what formula to suggest per your cool/warm question, but I have the following recommendation:

Try to set up a reference for your question: find someone who won't mind sitting for you under those light conditions for a half hour or so. Most people will sit this long, especially easy since your subject is reading.

It will be an interesting exercise, but the more "interesting" the exercise I encounter, the more I realize how important it is to paint from life.

Good luck, it is a beautiful photograph. You might want to look at some of Thomas Eakins' work, there should be a lot of links from Yahoo or Google or whatever you use.

[Mike McCarty]

Will,

Here is a link to a portrait posted in the oil critique section by Simon Levinson.

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...&threadid=1070

I don't know if it will be instructive in any way but it has some of the same feel that I get from your photo.

[Denise Racine]

Your picture stook my breath away! I just came back from a trip to Europe and the picture of your father (3/4 pose- without light) reminds me very much of Vermeer's compositions.
Please make sure you show us the finished work. I will looking forward to seeing it.

[Will Enns]

The painting has been done, and can be viewed at http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...&threadid=1469

I will be most interested in any critique that might be offered.