Lunatique's Sketchbook

[Lunatique]

That's a lovely portrait — well done

You wrote earlier that backgrounds were a challenge.  With that in mind I offer the following:

Maybe your going for an abstract BG but otherwise suggest adding some depth there — ie are those tree or plan blossoms of some kind?  Adding some distant low saturated elements in the far distance behind her and mixing in some of that in the closer elements will give your BG more interest and depth.

Or some details about what the BG represents:  If it's tree or plant flowers — some details of flowers or leaves may help the viewer understand.  If it's snow or rain then that's hard to 'get' as well.

Either way, it cannot be denied that your skill as a portrait artist is well developed.  Congrats and hope to see more soon

Thanks! I've thought about fabricating representational backgrounds for these types of portraits, but generally speaking, when I paint portraits of real people from references, I prefer to keep fabricating to a minimum and stick to a more traditional mentality of simply painting the subject and scene in front of me, and if there's no recognizable background, I would either go for something vague or abstract that doesn't transport the subject to a place they weren't in when the reference photo was taken. Maybe it's my desire for a sense of authenticity--I'm not sure. When the references do contain recognizable backgrounds, I usually depict them, and if they're too distracting, I would go for the abstract approach.