Awaiting - background help needed

Kimberly Dow · 08-10-2003, 04:54 PM

This is 24 x 36", oil

I'm ready for a critique and any suggestions.

I need to figure out what I am going to do with that post I added. It may stay, it may not. Maybe it could be terra cotta colored similiar to her dark skin tones. There are ridges in her face I need to scrape off and re-paint.

Any suggestions/digital manipulations welcomed.

Kimberly Dow · 08-10-2003, 04:56 PM

oops.

Steven Sweeney · 08-10-2003, 05:39 PM

Kim,

I don

Kimberly Dow · 08-10-2003, 07:26 PM

Steven,

Thanks for your comments. The hand is a problem I agree. My husband has renamed this painting "the claw." I'm not quite sure how to fix that - I should have paid more attention to that while posing her. I may have her pose again and try to change it to be more pleasing.

As for the belly, your in good company - this was discussed under a reference photo critique. I chose to go ahead and show it for various reasons. For me it is the reason for the painting. It's not a commission or for my portfolio necessarily - just because I wanted to. I agree that it is rather 'startling' the way it pokes out. I was going to have her pose again with it covered, but she is due any day and has been not well the last couple of weeks. This is a learning painting as well. This is my first portrait since joining the forum and reading all the great tips. Plus I just got Chris Saper's book. I'm trying to stretch myself.

08-10-2003, 09:26 PM

Kim,

Love it! I was hoping you were working on this because I was really looking forward to it. I think you did a great job so far.

One of the reasons the hand looks clawlike is that you've rendered the muscle between the thumb and the carpal area as an egg shape. I'm sure on the reference it is also an egg, but it's interfering with your opportunity to model the knuckles more finely. You may want to make it a more concave shape. Also, folding the index finger in to vary the shape might be pleasant. This extreme foreshortening is definitely a challenge. You could always have her grasp the fabric then turn her wrist so that

I like the background the way you have it, though the chroma might be intense on the leaves. But the way you've got the light breaking the contours on the leaves shows a rear light source and implies light motion... It's totally effective for me as a viewer. I'm not the most sophisticated viewer, though, so I'll just let it go at that.

The belly is great! I wasn't drawn to it right away - I think the lightness and shape of her hair and head drew me there first, then on downwards. I know we talked about this before, and I still say if you're going to make a statement, go ahead and make it. I have an affinity for bellies, having sported one for about 4 years off and on, and I bet many people will feel the same way. On the other hand, there are a lot of traditions in figural art that you're defying, (consciously, I know), and yet somehow I get the impression you're certainly not going to crumple at a few withering stares.

You should get this done as a giclee and offer it to every OB in a tri-county area.

Steven Sweeney · 08-10-2003, 09:54 PM

Kim, Sorry to have missed the extensive comments in the Resource Photo area. (I'm having trouble keeping up with the dailies, much less the archives.) Anyway, it does seem as though the issues I raised have already been pretty much hashed out.

I'm very happy to see folks paint what they want to, by the way -- I have lots of studio figure work that I couldn't post here, and I paint lots of things besides portraits -- and I trust that you understand I wasn't saying you couldn't do this picture this way if you wanted to.

Just to clarify, it isn't the "pregnant woman" aspect that I meant to speak to, but the compositional pull of a large, high-contrast area down in the corner of the painting, drawing attention away from some otherwise very interesting and well-rendered parts of the picture, most notably her facial structure, nice skin tones, and hair, as well as some of the drapery dynamics in the fabric. The belly just isn't as interesting to me, and yet it's doing most of the compositional shouting (and kicking, I would imagine.)

My wife looked at this earlier today and said, "Well, that must have been the most important part for the artist." Interestingly, she was assuming that the artist must be male. The implications of that assumption probably go too far beyond this discussion, at least tonight.

Mike McCarty · 08-10-2003, 10:05 PM

Kim,

I think you've done a good job on her face and hair. The background to me seems to create too much interest with to much intensity.

My main complaint would be in the area of edges. I think the edges could stand to be softened, particularly where her skin meets the fabric.

I think if you look closely at your reference you will be able to make that hand serve. Reducing the sharp edges will help the hand as well.

Seems like you're pretty well set on the bold belly. It's interesting to me (and I haven't gone back to check every post) that the belly seems to be going pro female con male. That seems interesting to me.

I was going to repost my covered belly version mostly for aggravation, but decided against it. I think I'm growing as a person.

Kimberly Dow · 08-11-2003, 02:37 AM

Lisa,

Thanks for the great comments! I love the idea of the OB doctors. Wouldn't that be funny?

Steven,

I understood completely about your comment with the belly. I found this the most pleasing pose, but I was sorry the light was so strong on her belly. Composition and prior planning are areas I need a lot of work on.

By the way, where is your work to be seen here? I havent seen any yet.

Mike,

I will work on edges, this will be tricky for me. You can feel free to re-post the belly-covered pose. Since I know you are trying to be aggravating I won't hurt you.

I have a theory about the female/male aspect of the belly showing. Woman want to be beautiful at all times, and especially when they are pregnant and feeling fat. It's also a very emotional and loving time. We stare in amazement at our belly when it is growing. I even did a series of nude sketches of myself every 2 weeks when I was pregnant with my first one. For most of us though, that "glow" is really pregnancy acne, our rears get as big as our belly and the ankles bigger. This girl wasn't half this pretty before she was pregnant, she is more sensous looking now. She is beautiful pregnant like we all would like to be. For woman, seeing a pregnant woman done beautiful, including the belly that we are so fascinated with is a compliment to all of us. We can be attractive even when carrying 25 extra pounds around the middle. Maybe for men it's not the same. How many husband's really find their wives more beautiful when she is throwing up every morning? Maybe that big belly is a turn-off for some. I don't know - just a theory. Then again, maybe the men are thinking "Dang, another mouth to feed on the way!"

Kimberly Dow · 08-11-2003, 02:55 AM

I messed around in Adobe, with what little I know how to do and changed the color of the post, thinking maybe it would look like a stucco doorway opening? Let me know what you think. I am usually at a loss for backgrounds.

Steven Sweeney · 08-11-2003, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Steven,

By the way, where is your work

Thanks for the reminder that I have to work on a website eventually, once I get settled (and find some new studio space to rent).

Anyway, there are actually a number of drawings, pastels, and oils floating around the Forum. They're scattered -- posted to a number of different purposes -- so I'll try to round up some URL's and send them to you.

Cheers