Gail Caduff-Nash 18 Dec 2012

And here's halfway thru - with me still not finished with the lady. I've missed the boat as far as it looking much like her and i'm going for an artistic approach now.

Gail Caduff-Nash 18 Dec 2012

I like the blocky solid colors of the acrylic, and I like stylized work, but I also like being able to render a face in oils, so I'm trying to merge these things into an entertaining and pleasing picture. Something that will remind them of days they've spent in the islands.

Gail Caduff-Nash 26 Dec 2012

ok, thanks everybody. the silent reply. the non-answer. the quiet nod. wow.

Ellen Liner 29 Dec 2012

Hi I love your color pallet and the balance of the composition. I'm almost wishing you stay with an abstract painting- seems like you are wonderful with color and shapes!!!!!!

eric tresback 30 Dec 2012

the face looks a little puffy in relation to the body, and the neck looks like you're still working on getting all the shadows blocked in. i like the wrinkles on the right side of her face, and the background is great. digging the fence, one thing that's a little off putting is the eye on the left seems bigger than the right, but overall i like the direction you're working this towards and want to see how you end up pulling it all together!

Gail Caduff-Nash 01 Jan 2013

i haven't taken a final picture yet but i developed the woman's face/bod more. she does have a 'cheeky' quality to her face that surrounds a wide smile - her best attribute. i wanted the guy to be undeveloped - in the background - he's the client. and now that it's done, i feel like UNpainting it - back to a more abstracted place. so I might start a 3rd one.

Marty Yokawonis 01 Jan 2013

i have to say the underpainting is intriquing but maybe you telegraphed anxieties onto the actual portrait? It looks a bit stiff Gail.

maybe bring back some of the wonderful colors from the underpainting and don't focus so much on her. I know it's her portrait yep I get that but sometimes we micro manage the subject and lose sight of the whole composition you know what I mean?

Soften some of those edges too maybe merge some values in the colors so there's more flow. Way too much rigidity.

Gail Caduff-Nash 02 Jan 2013

hmmmm Marty, got some good points there. will think about that. thanks.

Diego Sandoval 12 Jan 2013

I like what I see... would love to see an updated picture though.

Keep up the good work Gail.

Mary Adams 12 Jan 2013

I like what you have done so far however, I think it needs a softer touch to the face. The background is great. Can't wait to see it finished.

Gail Caduff-Nash 22 Jan 2013

So here's the last version, maybe, where i worked on the woman's face a lot more; wanted to keep the man simple, fade into the background. This is oil on a wood panel 20x24 or so. I'm thinking of doing a 3rd painting and simplifying it even more rather than making it more complex.

Paulo Guimaraes 23 Jan 2013

Perhaps some more shadow on the man, due to the umbrella he is under.

Gail Caduff-Nash 05 Feb 2013

Hello? 110 of you viewed this and only 1/2doz made comments?

Neil Higgs 07 Feb 2013

Hi Gail...great workwith this painting.

I agree with Paulo on the shadows on the chaps face, also perhaps a little darker inside the umbrella...but, at the end of the day, everything is subjective...what one person likes and thinks is great, another may well pick holes in. I like the colours in the background, they work quite well in my view.

Gail Caduff-Nash 11 Feb 2013

Thanks you, Neil!

Chelsea Davis 17 Feb 2013

I really like it! The background is really well done and simple. Did you change anything from your last post?

Nathalie Chavieve 24 Mar 2013

Hello Gail

It's a nice try and for the artist is very important to take a challenge, but in the matter of fact I have to admit it is a not successful work. As you mentioned by yourself that you are not a portrait artist and if it so why not to try first to practice portraiture on paper and get a basic rules? The women's head looks awkward : it is not proportional, it looks like a pumpkin because you made her cheeks and forehead to much spheric, her lips to big and awkward too, the female chest did not starts almost from the neck ? The men's head looks little bit better, but it is almost flat, and again unproportional.

Gail Caduff-Nash 02 Apr 2013

Nathalie, so when you do a portrait of a women who is not terribly attractive, but you try to catch her attributes and make her recognizable, do you underplay some? this woman has very cheeky cheeks, sallow skin, dark circles around her eyes and her chest does, indeed, start just below her neck because she's overweight. when i started the painting i kept her very light and abstracted, but it kept becoming more specific, so i made her cheeks less cheeky, her skin bright, her eyes less tired. and i was using 3 different viewpoints of her, which did skew the outcome. --- i don't think i should avoid doing anything. it's all a learning process and i don't care if i fail because i always learn a lot from what i do. i can always burn the thing if it's hideous. or paint over it. when i started to realize that it didn't look much like her after all, i thought of doing it just as a bright piece of art of any two people at a resort.

Nathalie Chavieve 07 Apr 2013

Gail , the aim of my critique was not to offend your attempt to paint a people, but to pay your attention on your techical skills . I do not know how those people look like in life, but even most overweight and awkward people in the world have a proportions. Of course , you learn a lot from your own practice and mistakes, but the question is : do you think that everything what your learn from your own expirience is the right things ? And why have to burn canvas and repaint them if you can easily avoid this by practicing on paper ?

Tina Hernandez 15 Apr 2013

It is a great piece of Art but just make sure the picture is centered or take a bit better picture for all Art.