Hi
Some time ago I posted a painting in it's early stages. Some of you were kind enough to comment. The reason why I have taken so long is that we had a disaster. A ceiling came down lathe and plaster all over the place. Dust adhered to my wet painting and I've been working ever since to put it right. Anyway here's how far I've got. Floor's to finish as is the chair, skin shadows need working on, pictures need filling in, gloves to make redder. I've got a feeling this one will never be finished.
Any comments welcome.
Lol Jack

Hi Jack,
I think I preferred the fist attempt better, the arm with the glove looks very distorted, it may well be the red of the glove, but it looks a bit odd. I'm sorry to hear about your ceiling and the damage it has done to your painting and all the hard work that you had put into it. The floor I think could do with a bit of a lift by adding some highlights to make it shine.try adding a glaze of white with a hint of yellow ocher ( just enough to kill the white ) and feather it out to the foreground. I like the pictures on the right of the painting but the ones on the wall just need some random flicks of colour and shapes but no detail to give the impression of a painting, so being in the corner the colour will be muted, but the shapes will be enough for the viewer to know it's a portrait or landscape , whatever. I hope that you don't feel that I'm shooting you down, they are just a few things that I have noticed, others may have a different opinion. Good luck with your painting Jack.
Kindest Regards Richard.

Hi Jack I really like this painting. I agree about her left arm needs sorting out and just a shadow under her left foot ,looks like it's floating.
Sounds like you have had a right todo with the ceiling, did someone leave the bath to overflow?
when it's finished you will need to ask a decent price for all the hard work,probably you won't want to part with it.

Thanks Richard and Wendy. I never take offence when honest criticism is given. I just hate the 'nice', 'very good' comments without the explanation 'why''.

My model was just preparing to stand up when I took the photo which explains the rigidity of the left arm. As painter I should have used my artistic licence.

I am waiting for my model to return to sit for a repeat, together with another painting in waiting.

Sometimes I get too close to a work.

Lol jack

Yes I agree but there is no need for out and out rudeness, if you havn't anything constructive to say , say nothing, to be destuctive for the sake of it is no good to anyone,it does more harm than good, especially new artists starting out.

hello Jack - we can learn alot from other people's critique - i certainly have but its quite awkward sometimes giving it without sounding negative... anyway her's my thoughts, i know you said there's still work to do and maybe you've got these in mind. Her left foot looks a bit floating - agree woth wendy itneeds grounding in some way. I'm not sure at all about the red glove - at the moment it looks like a boxing glove maybe the finshing touches will change that and give it definition. I agree with richard about the paintings - didn't you have the model herself in one of them to start - I liked that. ( or if it wasn't then put it down to a "senior memory" ) The curtains and landscape are beautifully soft but those ties seem a bit - distracting/heavy not sure how to describe it but the seem to draw my eye when i feel that the focus should be the model and other parts found by wandering round tha work. Maybe you could tone down the colour a bit. Its not the actual cutrain ties as such - just the colour seems too strong with the surrounding values.
sorry about your disaster.. that must have been awful . that happened to us years ago in a previous house ( but without the problem of wet paintings) we had a bay window which unknown and unnoticed had developed a leak - one night the whole lathe and plaster ceiling came down with an enormous crash..and amazing mess..

Thanks Jeannie. As I said earlier I appreciate honest criticism and most of your points I agree with. I think I'm 'living' this painting and don't want to let it go. The gloves I thought were a good idea at the time. Now I don't think so.
Once again my thanks.
Lol
Jack

Hi Jack -

Just to say that I agree with all the critical comments previously made. Perhaps you could consider making the glove into the simple sleeve type (without hands) so that the left hand could then be skintoned to match the right.

The tiebacks are a definate distraction, leading my eye constantly into the outside 'splodgeland' which I don't want to look at.

It's my suggestion that the whole composition would be vastly improved by replacing the window with a mirror, perhaps to give a view of the artists studio (or whatever).

Hope you get your ceiling sorted out M8.