Michael Kayaking

[Mike McCarty]

Terri,

I like what you've done with your boy's eyes, he has a much more relaxed look now.

Just a couple more points, I would try and make a more gradual transition between the lights and darks in the flesh tones. Particularly on your boys left arm and even down on the sole of his right foot. Also on the underside of his left thigh near his shorts, there is a distict line which is causing this to read a little oddly.

You might also check the angle created by the shin of his left leg from the top of his knee as it goes down towards where his ankle would be. It can be a little tricky creating feet where shoes once were.

The tree line looks much softer at the transitions. Remember that those odd couple of tree tops can be interpreted any way you wish. Don't let them become eye catchers just because they show in the photo. Notice on our left side of the trees near the sky (in the photo), there are some "sky holes." These can be very effective in softening that transition and creating a more interesting effect.

When you paint this again with your daughter in the near boat, as she must have suggesting by now, you should try it in oils.

Nice job, good luck.

[Terri Ficenec]

Hi Mike - What a sharp eye for details!
Your advice on this painting has been tremendously helpful and has really improved it!

As far as the oils go, I'll probably give it a try on a little portrait sometime soon - but my daughter will have to wait! (It was because I had originally done one of her that I owed one to Michael - if I do one of Karen again now, we'd be uneven again!).

I actually switched from oils to acrylics a few years back because they were a lot more convenient to work with, with kids running around the house. But then I wasn't doing portraits and needing to get such subtle blending/transitions. So we'll see how it goes with the oils now that we're talking portraits.

Thanks again Mike!