hello,
I'm sorry to post yet another portrait. Hope I'm not flooding this forum with my postings but I need some help.
I'm currently working on a gift for a very good friend. The portrait is his wife and 2 kids. As usual, I'm having problem with the background landscape with many bright tulips and I'm afraid too much distraction from the subjects. This is what I have so far, I've already eliminated a partial wall on the right and replaced it with a bush. Shall I highlight a few flowers, grass/stems in the foreground?
Does anyone also have suggestion for which green color the best in this type of landscape? In this painting, I tried permanent green light, sap green and viridian. I mixed green with white, cad yellow medium, ultramarine blue, but having a hard time getting it right. Some doesn't show through especially the stems in the foreground.
It's a 8x10. Regretted the size after I started painting, small features and had to have a very stable hand. Also, the boy's head is almost chopped off.
thanks in advance for your input and help.
I have been using viridian & ultramarine blue with cad yellow light for plein air painting.
For still life paintings I have used olive green in the deep shadows then add the light part back to the stem with the lighter mixture just for the stems..
One thing, in my opinion the background flowers in the light swath near the back left of the painting should be lighter in value as they are further back in space. Other than than I like the painting...
I like this painting a lot. To my eye it is beautifully harmonious.
Thank you Jb for your green color selection and suggestion.
Thank you both Valerie and Jb for kind comment.
I will first attempt to try to lighten up the left background and may replace with bush or hedges if it did not work out.
Thanks also to Paul for your demo suggestion. Everyone is very helpful.
Here's the final work of the portrait.
I ended up removing the hedges/bush in the upper right (outvoted by my family members) and instead of filling the whole background with flowers, added a plain field. I also had to fix the eye-color of the girl and a few area.
Thank you all again for your kind input and suggestion. You all are very helpful and I appreciate your C&C.
Muriel
Muriel,
This came out fantastic -- it will make a wonderful generational heirloom for your friends.
This is a beautiful painting and I like the changes you have made. You are very talented.
Thanks Paul and Sharon for your kind comments.
I think that its a very beautiful painting. I tried my frist portrait of my daughter which I will post for a critique, Its a 3/4 view, but the next will be a full frontal view which I am very nervous to try. Was this done in oil or pastel?
Namasta
Thank you Namasta. This was done in oil. Don't be afraid. You can always paint right over to correct, since oil is a very forgiving medium. Please share your painting once it's done. I am taking another workshop class on portrait painting this week with Clayton Beck. Always enjoy learning. Thanks again.
this portrait is beautiful! diane
Thank you Diane, Sorry for the late response. Appreciate all for your kind comments and help.
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