Stacy

[Rob Sullivan]

I'm into this so far, Janel. I think you've already nailed what's up with the anatomy, but I'll put in my nickel's worth, if it may help to clarify.

Yes, the spine and musculature of the back is not described here. Handling the reflective light subtly will help explain the angle of her backside relative to the torso. Make sure the reflective light stays cooler than the light plane flesh tones. Neutrals are always a good standby for this kind of thing. And by "subtly," I mean keep the values compressed so the shadow plane on her back stays in shadow.

One thing you mentioned was the angle of her leg going toward the knee. I'm not getting the foreshortening, yet. Watch the structural connection where the hip flexor meets the quad (top of thigh). Making that planar change more obvious will help with form. Also, check your width of the knee relative to the thigh in your reference. It seems like it's narrowing too fast. When the knee bends like that, a lot of muscular material gets compressed and folded up, so it adds a bit of girth to an otherwise bony area. Also, get some reflective light up into the underside of the thigh using the ground color. Hue shifts in reflective lights allow the subject to fully connect to their environment.

Oh, this may be extraneous, but I think it's worth a mention: Watch the chroma in the ostrich feathers. Too much of that indigo, and it draws more attention to itself than the figure.

Your skin tones and the softness with which you're handling them are really great, so I'm confident you can go the distance on this one. Keep going!

[Kim, you know it's not the fumes - it's the booze ]

[Janel Maples]

Rob,

Your nickel's worth is GREATLY appreciated. It does help clarify things for me.

Let me share something with you about where the idea for this painting came from. My daughter was studying Greek Mythology in school. She told me the myth of where the peacock feather got it's eyes from. They are, according to the myth, eyes. So I thought it would be fun (maybe a little on the sassy side) to have them looking at the nude woman. All of these eyes, including ours, are all on Stacy.

But, if you find them distracting I should bring them down a bit. I don't want to take away from her.

Thanks again for your in put. I will be applying what you mentioned and I think it will help a great deal.

I confess, in posting this I also needed some reassurance that people liked it in order for me to continue with it. I'm not sure why I needed that, I know it should be enough that I liked the idea. I must be having an insecure moment and in need of a boost.

[Janel Maples]

I still have to work on some of the things that were suggested above but thought I would post my progress so far.

I had a few set backs the past couple of weeks so I haven't been painting as much as I would like. Hopefully, that will change.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Janel,

You are going in the wrong direction with the arms. I took the liberty of adjusting it a bit in Photoshop to show you where the adjustments need to be made. I hope you do not mind, otherwise forgive me!

In my opinion the hand is too large and I would take out the calibers and check the size again. The arm was too thick as well and the angle needed correction. I hope this helps

[Janel Maples]

Enzie,

Thank you for taking the time to point a few things out to me. Her hand is actually her hand plus part of her arm (count the fingers and
you will know where the arm starts) I am not sure if that is what you were pointing out with her hand being too big or not.

Here she is to date

[Janel Maples]

I am not sure what happened to my post, but I will try this again.
In it I thanked you Enzie, and don't worry, I'm not offended at all.

Here is another attempt at posting this.

[Janel Maples]

OK, I had a little problem posting these and ended up with two photos of the same thing. I hope I fixed it.

Kim......... it's the fumes!

[Allan Rahbek]

Hi Janel,
I think that there must be some reflections in the vase and a larger shadow under the hand/ arm like I have suggested on the psh manipulation.
Also you will need to lighten the back a bit.

I like the Peacock feathers looking.........I would.

Allan

[Kimberly Dow]

Originally Posted by Janel Maples

JUST SHOOT ME!

Both of those images weren't there a few minutes ago.

Kim......... it's the fumes!

Didn't I tell you to stop sniffing those?

This is coming along nicely Janel. You mustve taken down the first one? I wanted to see how different they looked. I remember mostly though and this is improving greatly!

I am loving the cushion she is sitting on, the fabric reads perfect.