Cinder is finished - I think

Cinder is finished - I think. In this last session, I was looking at what kind of feeling her portrait conveyed. The feeling I got from her, intuitively and from her photos, was a feeling of relaxation. Yet, looking at the portrait, some of my trusted feedback-givers and I were getting the sense that, rather than being relaxed, she was about to jump up - coming out of that relaxed state into an on-alert state, watchful and ready for action. Thinking about where that feeling might be coming from, my husband suggested that her shoulders were a bit raised; I noticed, also, that I had the angle of her elbow more vertical than it should be. So I changed that angle, lowered and smoothed her topline, and shifted the stresses in her shoulders. I believe that it worked.

I also worked more on her eyes, especially that less-finished left eye (remember, to us viewers it's the right-side eye, but it's HER left), and on her face; darkened her left ear a bit and brightened the top of Foofer, behind her ear.

Finally - I signed and dated this painting. Yay! I may still see some little things that I want to tweak or bring out, but essentially, I feel like I've reached my goal.


Here's a detail of her face. I really like the way her face and head have taken shape and taken on color.