Study in oil - Page 2

Chris Saper · 05-02-2002, 07:31 PM

Dear Lon,

This is a beautiful painting, and it also my favorite of those you have shared. The drawing is beautiful. The pose is so restful and solid, and the hands are so beautifully rendered, up to the level of the entire piece.

Finding things to critique is a stretch, and I have only two comments. Subject to the limits of my monitor, it seems to me that the colors in both light and shadow are equally cool, and that the colors in shadow are darker versions of the color in light. If it were me, I would choose a temperature for the light, (you could probably go either way with the light source), and let the hues run to the opposite temperatures in shadow. Generally I would expect to be seeing a lot of greens in blond hair in shadow.

My only other comment, is that the brass knob on the table seems to be too light in value, or perhaps too sharp in edge so that it jumps out of the shadow.

Wonderful piece!
Chris

Timothy C. Tyler · 05-02-2002, 08:00 PM

I think the comments are worth consideration. I think you've got a comfortable feel from the subject and the hands are nicely done. Can't wait to see it "adjusted". One point that's not been mentioned that I first noticed is the length of the femur. It seems too long. Everything else seems really well drawn.

Lon Haverly · 05-02-2002, 08:10 PM

What a compliment from such a masters! Regarding the femur, she is over six feet tall. But perhaps I goofed with the chop in the photo patch - it is two photos patched together. I actually did have more green in the sweater and hair, but I did not like it, and redid it to be all sharing the magenta cool theme throughout. I don't know why. Just went that way. The tone of the photo demanded it. The "devil made me do it."

Chris Saper · 05-02-2002, 08:28 PM

Oh, now that I see your photo, you have made your beautiful subject even more so! She must be so thrilled.

As to color, I would probably have gone WARM in those shadows, and actually use the color of the roses in the sweater in shadow.

My compliments to you.

Chris

Lon Haverly · 05-02-2002, 09:09 PM

I will revisit this painting as soon as the morogar dries!!!! Great comments. Will try it!

Mari DeRuntz · 05-02-2002, 10:42 PM

It is really helpful to critique given the reference photo--thanks for posting it. I can agree that the light is cool (from a window??) and that the shadows are warm... (GREAT book, Chris, by the way, I hadn't previously seen daylight broken down into the kelvin scale).

You're all great teachers here!

Lon Haverly · 05-03-2002, 01:05 AM

By "shadows' are you refering to the pinker secondary lighting on the shadowed side of the face? It was my intention to show the warm pink light on the viewer's left side of the face. I have since increased the warn pink color on that side of the face since this post. I agree - the warm light from the left creates the pink light on that side of the face. Not sure how to fascilitate that in the sweater. I may do a glaze to bring the tone down on the sweater, and perhaps then I will see if I can add some of that rose color. Thank you so much for looking and for your good critiques. I could never get any better critiques than here!

Chris Saper · 05-03-2002, 12:15 PM

Hi Lon,

I wasn't sure if you were directing your question to me (that's never stopped me from jumping in before, so why stop now). By shadow, I mean everything not struck by light (your primary light source). My monitor just doesn't show any warm color in the cheek on (our) left, so I don't have benefit of seeing what you see. Since I have never used glaze I couldn't begin to advise you on it...if I were to paint integrating warm tones into the sweater, I would typically work wet-into-wet, and use some of the sweater color as a base and just mix into it what ever reds/oranges/yellow I had used for the flowers, then in this case, probably 'hit' the upward planes of the sweater with strokes of the warmed color. (Upward since these are the planes that would pick up reflected color. I would also warm the downward facing planes of the roses with some of the sweater color.) Of course the values need to be in control to retain the integrity of the shadow.

Chris

P.S. Thanks, Mari!

Lon Haverly · 05-03-2002, 12:54 PM

I had more yellow in the roses, but I took it out to play down the roses o a mistake. I think I will add it back in. Thanks!!!

Peter Jochems · 05-03-2002, 03:49 PM

Hi Lon,

thanks for posting the photograph. Don't change too much of the painting after what I say now, but I think that the two photographs you used to put together, the roses and the girl are two different worlds. The roses seem quite large in the collage and the lighting-situation is very bright when you compare them to the figure of the girl.

The colors of the girl in the photo seem also very blue-ish. But I don't know wehther that's also the case with the original print which you scanned in (or is this a digital image?). I corrected the colors a little bit.

Another remark which I would like to make. When you compare the photograph with the painting you seem to extend the forms in the vertical direction. Just something which can be useful to know.

Greetings,
Peter