Re-freshed and moved

[Stacey McEwen]

I

[Steven Sweeney]

Beth,

I

[Elizabeth Schott]

Thanks for your refreshing however humbling opinions all! Us old cheerleaders die hard, we dive in with way too much enthusiasm but I doubt this will stop. I need to find a closet so I can put old work in and lock it up forever, of course until it can start touring with the Pushkin exhibit - Just Kidding!

Jeff, yes my reference could be blue this day, I am notorious for bad Digital's, until I have the money I can for this time blame it on the camera, a little slack there, but only there.

As for "Jinny the Writer" she does look much nicer in person, because she is on the background we started on. My lashing from my last teacher went pretty much to the effect of:

I told you the success of a good painting will be exponentially increased if you set things up so they look good. Going back and trying to change ill-conceived paintings is a flawed plan.

Like John Lennon said, "Let it be." Work from life or photos if you must, but don't change the reference, especially the background. It affects the color of the shadows and every other relationship. In the paintings you redid, you threw out the baby with the bath water. Like the painter guy. You changed the strength of the drawing and made him look bloated. You lost the contrast between light and shadow. I told you that "everything in the light is lighter than everything in the shadows". "Go lighter in the lights and darker in the shadows." "Don't let shadow values meander in the lights and visa versa." This is the "golden rule" of painting. This is how the ball of the head maintains form. In the paintings you redid you lost sight of this concept and messed them up.

Dang, he is right again as are all of you.

Stacey, I love it when people come out of the wood work, I am really sad now that I changed this one, but I thought people had real problems with this. Funny I didn't touch the fore ground at all, just the background to over her left should, it really shows what changing the backgrounds can do!

Now I am chewing my nails not to do this again. Please note if you think all is lost, look at "The Secret" in the Unveilings section it has been done since these.

Thanks for your support.

Beth

[Peter Jochems]

Like John Lennon said, Let it be

'Let it be' was written and sung by Paul McCartney.

[Elizabeth Schott]

Sorry Peter, I pick you for a partner in Trivial Pursuit - I must have typed it wrong! Does Yoko argree?

At least I didn't say Paul Simon...

[Denise Hall]

Beth,

You have the right attitude - and that is precisely why you will succeed. I love a good crit - and expect it from Marvin and my peers - without it we will never reach our goals in this harsh portrait world (eheheheh)

Since I saw "Portrait of Jinny" in person I do have to say I liked it much better in the original form too. The new background is too pastel-ish and I know she would want you to put it back. Everything looked more congruent in the original.

You have a great eye and have learned much over the summer - the secret and you know it -- keep painting......


Denise

[Kimberly Dow]

Beth,

I'm still fairly new too, so I am still hesitant to speak (type) up immediately when it comes to giving a critique. I just wanted to throw in my opinion as well. And that is exactly what it is, just an opinion.

I like the changes for "Peggy" - to me it just looks more real and true. For the others, the first thing that I noticed was that the originals are warm and the corrected ones are cool - very cool. I prefer the originals myself. I was startled to see the painter changed. I saw that one when reading old threads when I was waiting to post. I particularly liked that one, the model, the pose, the background, everything. I feel like he is now more of a caricature of himself.

I admire your willingness to re-work those paintings! I usually will give up and start over - I am trying to be more patient. You've been working really hard - you go girl!

[Renee Price]

Beth,

Use what works for you and throw out the rest, no matter who it's from. There is a great deal of good information on the Forum, and sometimes from unexpected sources. Listen to people you respect and silently disregard the rest. Every aspiring artist should be open to learning something from everyone. Myself, I have learned a great deal about painting, and about human nature.

Keep painting,
Renee Price

Moderator's Note: This post was edited to remove references to another Member that were not in keeping with Forum guidelines.

[Elizabeth Schott]

Old habits die hard.

I had to go down to my show, take this one off the wall and replace it with another, bring it home and fix it.

As Steven said, I have let my workshops "percolate" for a while and I think this is a success.

For my husband to walk through my studio and say "I don't know what your doing to Ben, but whatever it is I like it", was a really good afirmation for me - this is Ben. I promise to stop now!

image reshot 10-31-03

[Elizabeth Schott]

Hummmmmm, maybe I should do something with "The Writers" hair?

Here is the detail of his face now:

Thanks for your input.