girl scouts painting

Here is one of the paintings I completed while in SC. It was for the Baltimore Sun... a story about a woman who remembers going to girl scout camp when she was ten years old.

I liked painting this one because I played with different borders before landing on the branches (I don't normally do borders but think they are so neato!). And I'm really into freckles at the moment so the last couple of paintings I've done have included them. I'm not sure why... they are just cute I guess.

Before I send the final to my client I love to get feedback on it from someone... So Colin usually gets an email with a little jpeg of the illustration and a note that says "You dig this?" and sometimes he replies with a "Hell yeah! Send it!" and sometimes he sees something I don't... "Her hair is making a weird pattern" or "It feels a little bare on the left", etc.

The painting above was critiqued by my brother before sending to to client. He suggested I photoshop out her dimples (she had cute dimples to match her cute freckles) and some of the extra grunge from her forehead. When I did those two things she looked five years younger, like she needed to. (Thanks, Tom, for your good critiquing skills!)

Getting your work critiqued is sometimes hard. I have some painful memories of critiques in college that went horribly and bruised my feelings... But I think it's a good thing overall even if it's difficult. It only improves the work. Either you agree with the critiquer (is that a word?) and make the image better, or you feel more confident in your original decisions regarding the piece. And both of those options are a-ok. And if you're feelings get hurt... You'll get over it. (That's what my mom says anyway. hee.)