Cripple Path II, oil

A bit chalky in this reproduction - it may need a glaze in due course...

Lovely work

Beautiful texture

Michael, I think you&#39;re right - the thumbnail picture looks better than the enlarged version (ie, more true to the original) so perhaps my photography skills, which are very limited, are as much to blame as anything else: I am sensing two things - one, I think I used the flash, two, the painting probably does need a warm glaze anyway. <br /><br />I might leave it rather than fiddle though - not that I have any problem with fiddling, but in this case perhaps trying it again might be the wiser course. Even so, it made the gallery at the top of the page! Cooo.....

Michael - no, I don&#39;t think that you know nothing! I&#39;d be grateful if you - or anyone else for that matter - would go and take a look at my blog page (www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk) and take a look at the reproduction of the painting there, which is a bit closer than the above, and see if you still think it&#39;s too grey and chalky. <br /><br />If it is, this could be easily rectified - and I do think it is: I would normally have used Cremnitz White for the highlighting, but used Titanium instead and it&#39;s just too cold (I know most people don&#39;t have Cremnitz White, but I find it invaluable). <br /><br />

Great work Robert!

Looks very good to me Robert, a distinct lack of chalk in my humble opinion!

Who was your uncle, Michael? Not a Trask, I believe - there is,or was, a portrait of either Sir Evelyn or Sir Charles Baring on the main staircase of County Hall - quite a good one; and one of Sir Gough Calthorpe - I don&#39;t think anyone would waste paint on most of the chairmen of the council since then... Mind you, I&#39;d have a bash; trouble is, they don&#39;t have the money now to commission so much as a photograph with a second-hand Vivitar in the hands of a cleaner... assuming they can even afford those. <br /><br />Yes, about the painting - I think it is a bit grey and it&#39;s my choice of white that&#39;s done it: it would have been a good idea to have mixed a little Yellow Ochre or even Naples Yellow with it to warm it up. I&#39;m still in two minds whether to trouble it with glazes at this stage but - knowing me as I do - I probably will... Won&#39;t go overboard, though.

Absolutely brilliant and beautiful Robert

A fabulous piece, Robert! The palette is a wonderful blend of warm and cool hues and your use of the negative shapes in the composition is superb.