Acrylic Painting of Native Woman with Berries

[Michael Ortega]

Acrylic on board, 20 x 30...worked and re worked...finally I just have to stand away from it and call it finished...it's my mother in law as a young woman...had to use blurred old photos as referance...it's a companion piece to the portrait I did of my FIL upon his death last year...

[Erika Takacs]

Hey Michael, nice colours and you know I like your style, however she looks slightly masculine, unlike your other paintings of women. I wonder if it has to do with quality of old photos. I think it might be her jaw line, it looks too wide for a women. Of course it's not easy to paint resemblance from an old photo. She still has the presence, as always.

[Michael Ortega]

thanks for your comments...I ordered an opaque projector and will use that as a tool for portraits in the future...I had about four old fotos of "mom" and they all made her look very different...here is one of them...

[Erika Takacs]

I like the photo, Michael. I presume she's the one on my left. Beautiful woman.

[MortiferaM]

I agree, she does look slightly masculine. I think the hairline contributes to this though as well as her chin. The background is great though, a lot of movement.

[Michael Ortega]

thanks for the perspective...hmmm now that you mention it the chin does look too big

[Michael Ortega]

I tried to see what it might look like with a slightly smaller jawline...
hmmmm...this is CGI enhanced...

[Erika Takacs]

Much more feminine now. If you could do the same thing with her hairline, that should do the trick.