Wedding Kiss

[rudatartisan]

HELP! My nephew eloped today (before he ships out for his third tour overseas). His grandmother (my mother-in-law) runs a bar and is throwing a reception for them tomorrow. Since they won't have any wedding portraits, I decided to paint them one and present it at the party. I had a crummy 350 pixel snapshot from last Christmas that I turned into a portrait today. 12" x 12" acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, about 5 hrs total. I will have a few hours in the morning to make any changes if anyone would like to suggest some. I've looked at it too long and need a new set of eyes. I normally "niggle" a lot more than this, but this is all I could do given the time constraint and the crummy reference. The painting and the reference photo is attached.

[jbart]

Great job. Suggest a little more definition of their shoulder outline against the dark background. I know what you are up against re. the photo ref., been there. Good looking couple. Hope his tour overseas will be short and safe.

[kevinwueste]

Keeping it simple ( from a difficult ref) is goodness! Her hair is nicely done - simple and working - good stuff!! good ear shapes in general too!

I would give her nose a bit more "nose" ( and a bit of the curves that are on the bridge and bulb of her nose.. also it would be warmer and not so cool/frosty feeling (? - lack a better descriptor - apologies!).. Her ear is tilted more left to right and less vertical ( this will also help get it more the correct size - it's a bit round-y and big-ish - just a bit though).. Both her and his jaw and neck are knife-edge sharp and both will have turns as they roll into the darkness.. take a look at both of those. Look at both her local color overall and his - if you keep those pretty simple with just some subtle changes for value it will come closer to what you are seeing in this photo ref. Ok those are thoughts, use or discard at your leisure. Good luck to the new couple and to you!

Kevin

[LGHumphrey]

Beautiful vibrant painting. I'm sure everything Kevin says is right but you could give it to them exactly the way it is, they'll love it.

[rudatartisan]

Thanks for the feedback: I softened the jaw lines, and put a couple of brushstrokes to better define the noses, hit it with the heat gun & slapped a coat of polyacrylic low-luster on it. Tied a ribbon on it, and just gave it to them at the reception. They were ecstatic. The rest of the new in-laws were totally impressed, and I may even get a couple of commissions out of the deal.

[amyeverhart]

Simply beautiful. It is perfect and I am sure they will love it!