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Not sure about this one
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Message
Posted
I think I lost my way a bit on this one... she has hair and light coming through it and it all got a bit much for me... in the end I realised I had stopped looking and was just making marks that don't actually make much sense.
Not sure if I have finished or I have lots more to do...
Edited
by Daveyboyz
Posted
I go along with Sylvia's advice. A fresh look can bring new ideas. I've had many pictures (finished and almost finished) where I've had doubts, I've put them away out of sight and then later revised my opinion...Sylvia suggested a 'short while', sometimes a few months is better. After doing this, on occasions I've thought 'that's pretty good', and some ,of course, I just dump.
I like art deco paintings, but although I like them they aren't really my style...but I still try to paint them. I did one recently and gave up on it about two thirds through. It went in a folder under my bed, months later I came across it, thought it not too bad and finished it. (As it was in a style I don't normally use my self-assessment was all over the place.) It's OK, not the picture I'd hoped it would be, but then they never are. I might post it today to get a reaction other than my own.
Your painting is stylized, and looks pretty good to me, it might well be finished. Only you can know that. I think doubts and uncertainty are part of the painting process. Good luck with it anyway.
Posted
Looked at it with fresh eyes today and realised I had to put in the fine mist of hair which had light passing through it... not knowing quite how to do it I put it in more like a solid mass and it seems to work now so I am going to leave alone and if I am still happy in a few days I will varnish it....
Posted
The weak spot is the jumble of hard-to-describe shapes over her right shoulder, i.e. our left as we look at it. In your place, I would paint that out, let it dry, and start again - with a light base colour, and a fine brush or rigger to give some life to what now looks a bit like a hair extension that had a bit of a shock in the washing machine (sorry about that, but it isn't helping the painting at all, and best say so - I'm in cruel to be kind mode today).
It is a jumble of shapes, blending into the background, criss-crossing with lines thinner than I can paint accurately and clumps of differing shades. It is all her own though...
Posted
Eek - Daveyboyz, I totally misread this - I thought you'd put it in the Work for Critique section, and so critiqued it (harshly: sorry, the sciatica was particularly cruel that day and I'm afraid I do tend to get narky now and then). But you didn't, you put it under Work in Progress, on which I'd not normally offer criticism. Particularly not since you'd also posted it on the Gallery. Sorry about that - I still think the hair hasn't quite come off, but I can see what you were trying to do, and even if I couldn't I should have put it more constructively. Please accept my wheedling apology - you must have been annoyed, but you didn't show it. I shall now go and castigate myself - well, it's always better than having someone else do it for you, they do tend to go over the top, I find.
Posted
Its really not a problem, I wasn't annoyed but I just posted the picture of her hair to show that it is in fact a jumble of shapes. Obviously my opinion on the matter is different to yours because I decided I was happy with it after I modified the hair a bit, and the lady it is of said she thought it was beautiful and she is an artist (and wouldn't be polite for the sake of it)
When you don't paint something in accurate colours people say things like you should paint over it or I thought she was wearing a scarf. It's so to be expected I don't really let such things bother me. Sometimes these things work and sometimes they do not, in this particular case I would say the result is OK, not a glorious triumph but not an absolute disaster. The painting has balance of light and dark, of complexity and simplicity, I think the values of the colours work even if not accurate. I could have spent longer on the hair and I could have used some thinner brushes and thought longer and looked harder and perhaps it would have been improved but it is what it is... onwards and upwards. I appreciate the apology but really no need.