I am a new boy here and this is my first posting. I am taking Richard's encouragement to post a recent painting. Comments very welcome.

I saw these two children on the beach at St. Ives in Cornwall and really liked their poses. The study, from a reference photo, is in oil on 6x8in canvas paper.

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Thank you, Marie, for taking the time to examine and comment. I do appreciate it a lot. You make an interesting point and I will check against my reference photo. However, regardless of what the photo shows,  if the painting gives you the impression that something is not quite right, I would need to adjust it.

For a painting to be successful, for me that is, it has to make me stop. And perhaps want to be there. I can imagine that emotions are difficult to 'catch' in a painting, photograph or any art work. This one does it for me. It is dripping with emotion. I feel what the boy is feeling, probably because it evokes something from my past. Well done. 

Thank you again, Reid. And do feel free to critique. It's a good way for me to learn.  Happy to reciprocate.

Nice and loose!  What a great feeling you have achieved here.  There is something troubling about the shoulders, though.  I think it is that the left shoulder shouldn't have the sand color on it because that would be a highlight area, whereas it works beautifully to blend the background in in the more shaded and soft light areas.  Far better than any figure painting I've done, so take my advice with a grain of salt ; ).  

Many thanks, Britt. I think I see what you mean about the shoulder - it looks perhaps as if it has disappeared!. There was no highlight on it though and my aim was to lose the edge somewhat to help it recede. However maybe I should have kept the rose colour more.

Michael

www.michaeljuleslang.blogspot.co.uk 

very nice!

Andrea Anne, thank you very much!

I am new to this site today but I'll take a stab at a comment.  I too like this painting especially the way the blue in the shadow is carried around the painting and the red in the boys hat is hinted at in the sand at the top of the shadows..  The girl peeking out from under her hat is a cool idea but somehow it appears that her lower face is hiding behind the cast shadow.  I have a question:  would it make a difference if the background sand receded more in the top of the picture and if so would it be by  lightening the sand colour or cooling it or both?

If you do decide to make any changes, it would be super helpful if you would post the new version.  Thanks for giving us this opportunity to think, question and learn.

Carol,  thanks for the kind comments as well as your interesting critique. I agree with your points, namely that her face could be slightly darker.to make the shading look more 'natural', although it was what I observed, and secondly that the sand at top left could be cooler, lighter and less saturated to help it recede. I don't think that I will adjust it though, as it was just a study, done some time ago.

This is a definite success! Great comp and palette and nice suggestion of story. I agree about the shadow on the girl; given the temp of the shadows on the sand shouldn't the shadow be cooler? And since her left side is turned away from the light, I'm thinking that adding more shadow there - on her torso and hat - would help to define her a bit better.

Would love to see any changes you make - it's a great piece already!

Think you so much, Linda. Your comments have made me think. This may be right with a single light source, but in this case there was light everywhere - essentially I painted what I saw.

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