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Portrait - first session

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Ben Eden

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Posted
<div align="left">So, first, I'm new here so tell me if I'm doing anything stupid. This is the result of yesterday's labour. Asha kept moving her eyes around and it was irritating me so I decided to have them shut. Is it too weird to have eyes shut in a portrait? Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated! It's in oil. Ben </div>

Sylvia Evans

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As a portrait it looks wonderful... why not do the eyes right at the end . Try a little bribery, to me eyes show the soul of a person. Could look a bit macabre closed... but you could start a new fashion.
Moi 17

Linda Wilson

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In my portrait class, we always tell the model to keep looking at one spot in the room during a portrait session. Try putting a portrait of Jonny Depp or whoever floats her boat in the spot, that you want her to look at.

Keith Orange

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That's a very good portrait. What's the medium and what colours were in your palette. The eyes shut are unorthodox, but it's still good.

Derek Snowdon

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I like the work and don't mind the eyes shut but they do reveal a lot about the sitter.

Ant Holder

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Nothing wrong with that... Its awesome.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, Napa

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You're not doing anything stupid - you leave that to us! We're good at it.... And an eyes closed portrait is unusual but can be very effective - which I find yours to be. If you want the model to keep her gaze focused, the obvious thing to do is give it something to focus on - this can be difficult though. The poor doctor who was trying to assess the extent of my cataract could tell you that: 'look straight ahead' - eh? Where's that, then ...? It's very difficult to look straight ahead when there's a powerful light shining in your eyes - where 'ahead' might be is not necessarily at all obvious. So don't shine a light, but give her something to rest her eyes on and ask her to maintain her/his gaze in that direction as much as possible. They won't be able to keep it up for long, but with any luck just long enough for you to get a reasonable representation. I do have a marked prejudice against portraits in which the woman, invariably, is painted in order to look as if she's having some sort of erotic dream - it just irritates me beyond measure - the closed or half-closed eyes, the parted lips. I'm afraid my first desire is to tip a bucket of cold water over her, and another over the artist. But yours is not of that sickly-sweet genre, is not intended to convey either sex or spirituality (another horrid habit) nor yet to make some fatuously obvious statement (eg, 'I call this one .... Yearning!' - Oh shut up!). http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk

Ruth Dolan

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Lovely work so far.....Asha sleeping? Spot on, why not? All artists use ruses to facilitate our work and the calm expression on her face is equally as beautiful as any eyes could be.....So.....

Ben Eden

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Sylvia - thank you! Yeah I was thinking maybe just adding them on the next session anyway. Haha I don't think I'm influential enough to start a new trend.. one day! Splosh - haha thanks for that I'll try the Depp solution if I need to! Keora - just oil paint, no other medium. On my palette I have Titanium White, Cad yellow and red, Alizarin Crimson, Transparent Oxide red and yellow, Ultramarine, and Ivory Black. Most of the colours could have been mixed with any decent range though, apart from maybe what I used for the hair - I think the mixture of Transparent Oxide red, yellow and Ivory black is the only way to get a brown that dark. Do you paint in oil? Derek - agreed! AGHolder - thank you! Robert - haha if you say so! Yep, well, I don't have an artificial light at least, just a window so it's not blinding like in some studios. I actually err.. kind of like the dreamy look haha, but I'm sure my taste is immature! I can definitely understand how you could get sick of it. I'm glad you think mine is ok, yeah, you do have to be very careful if you're going for a particular expression. davide19 - I will! That's really nice to hear. Ruth - She was indeed rather sleepy! Occasionally startled back into consciousness by my commands haha. Wow thank you I'm glad you think so! Haha how are you asking for trouble? Thanks for the nice comments everyone! So thoughtful!