Artist: Linda Remington
Title: “Newlyweds”
Medium: Prismacolor Pencil
Dimensions: 9″ x 12″
Support: Bristol Vellum
Comments From The Artist: This is my second portrait in pencil. I named the work newlyweds. I am now retired and have the time to draw and really am enjoying myself. I keep two size drawing journals that I work in daily and am trying to work on what i call a project a week of watercolor or pencil. I use the internet to explore sites where i can view others work. Thank you for the great site you have.
Newlyweds By Linda Remington
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Roger Cummiskey on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 4:07 pm
Good effort.
james moxey on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 4:52 pm
Wonderful technique, in a difficult medium!Congratulations!
bren on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 5:16 pm
Haven’t tried colored pencil myself ..but for your second that looks great…keep up the good work..
Ingrid on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 5:31 pm
Hi Linda,
“Newlyweds” is a good title for this painting because you have captured the affection that is felt between the two figures.
As I look at this creation with “fresh eyes” and by SQUINTING, I would like to make a few comments. Many years ago when I was in life drawing class at the American Academy of Art, I remember my life drawing instructor, Bill Parks, telling all of us that if we make teeth white as they actually are, they will come forward and “out of the mouth”. I think that this statement can be applied to your painting. Maybe by using a light flesh tone on the teeth and by softening the edges of the mouth, ESPECIALLY in the corners of the mouth, the mouth will look a little more natural.
Throughout your painting there are areas that could use softer edges. The neckline clothing shapes of each person draw me away from the lovely way you have created the two faces. This is because of the very strong light and dark values and hard edges in the clothing, coupled with the strong diagonal line in the man’s shirt. By softening and losing some of these edges and lightening the values of these shapes, especially as the shapes turn away from you around the figure, more focus is placed on the faces. A good question to ask is, how important are those clothes? I almost don’t see the female’s face.
The more intense flesh color in the lower neck area of the female, I would add to the female’s face rather than where you have it, and by so doing, more emphases in color and value would be added to her face. The light colored area on the male’s face and the shadow areas on the female’s cheek could also use some softer edges.
If my second portrait looked half as good as yours does, I would have been thrilled! Good for you! You become better with each additional creation, learning from the one you created before. KEEP PAINTING, keep practicing in those drawing journals and this will help you to SEE those SHAPES!
Thank you for sharing with all of us!
Ingrid
Valerie Sasaki on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 6:03 pm
You captured an intimate moment beautifully, I’ve worked with colored pencil, it can be very difficult. You did great!
James on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 6:39 pm
So nicely done! Strong emotion. It makes you hope that thirty or forty years from now they can still look at each other with such love. I like the way the hat brim hides their eyes and all the feeling come through with the expression of their mouths.
Pat on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 6:45 pm
Lovely work. Beautiful skin tones. I can feel their joy. Great job.
Wayne Cooper on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 7:21 pm
Lovely work and yoiu captured the intimacy of the moment….and by the way….I LOVE the way you did the teeth….they are, as i think you intended, a point of focus.
Hope to see more from you.
Jayne Cummins on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 7:44 pm
Absolutely lovely.
Jayne
Lynn Marlowe on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 9:21 pm
Your artwork is way better than mine. I am just learning hoping to use it to help with destressing me. I like it. The lady who critiqued it seems to know what she is talking about. Might very well be an art teacher and should be appreciated as such. The idea of love betwixt the two is quite evident.
Linda Remington on Mon, 22nd Sep 2008 9:24 pm
Thank you all for your comment. I will take all pointers to heart.
This is my nephew and his new bride. The picture was a wedding gift. The lighting was really hard to work with but the smile was what I wanted to focus on. Thank you again everyone.
Bernie Rosage Jr. on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 12:57 am
What an awesome gift Linda… you have created a treasured family heirloom. Congrats!
Bernie
Dorothy on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 4:05 am
i realy like your subject and i feel that the face of the lady is ok as that is where the light has struck the most bouncing of the hair,for me the mans neck could do with softer lines my eyes were focast mostly on the face’s of the lovely couple so did not pay much attention to the clothing.good pencil work the more you do the better you get so they say i am still working at it.
Amanda on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 8:29 am
I`m not familiar with this medium but this looks really very nice. The man felt right but something about the woman wasn`t clicking and until I read Ingrids post I was confused as to what it was exactly. Now I understand about the colour of teeth! Mind you if a chap like that was around my next corner, I`d be more than happy!… he for me is PERFECTION!
Well done!!!
wendell bartoo on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 11:45 am
Hey Sis you are a super artist !!!!
I think your drawing is really super.
I really like your picture.
Your brother
Duane
Gill on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 1:56 pm
What a lovely and meaningful wedding gift. I think you have captured their love beautifully.
John on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 3:54 pm
I agree the teeth are a little too white, but other then that I like it.
Soroya on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 5:46 pm
Linda,
I also love colored pencil and know that getting the proper values and shading is sometimes the biggest challenge and very time consuming (at least for me) I love the fresh feeling of the love and joy of the newlyweds that your drawing conveys. You have also inspired me to try and keep at the once a week commitment to paint,draw, create…. Thank you
Rich de Lorenzo on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 6:13 pm
Really nice work. I am a little confused about the light direction and the way the shadows work in relation the hat and the woman’s face. That said you really capture the emotions well.
Linda Remington on Tue, 23rd Sep 2008 10:28 pm
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. The lighting was a tough thing to deal with as the couple are standing partly under an overhang on a house. The shadows cut across the top of her head and the hat. Her face had a lot of light on it as did his shirt. I tried to tone it down but I am just to new at this to figure the colors. I used a hole punched in a card to match the colors to the photo then used a color that was as close as I could get.
I am sure I will look back on this work and know just what to do at some point thanks to all your kind guidance.
Linda
Carol Stack on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 5:29 pm
Linda,
Super Drawing !!
It will something they will treasure forever
Carol
Robert Reynolds on Sun, 22nd Mar 2009 7:03 pm
Ms. Remington, I wouldn’t dare comment on the accuracy of your drawing, especially without seeing the photogragh that you were working from. All I know is that I like your rendition of the photo very much. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not quilified to make critism of your love of the art in the expressions of their love and commitment to one another in your drawing. My wife has outstandingly white teeth and that is the one, of many of her attributes to her image.It may detract from her other lovely features but it is probably her most outstanding point of interest in her appearance as well. Maybe artistically it would be better to tone down a bit but I don’t know. All I know is if you haven’t seen the actual photograph that your attempting to duplicate exactly, I wouldn’t comment on it. I’ve been working with Prismacolor pencil for almost a year now and it is a never ending learning experience in their use. I now love using them.