u/iperite

I don't even know which is which

EDIT: For context, this is a small rural school, in a country where gender-separate bathrooms are mandatory. There is also another bathroom, for staff only. I took this photo mindlessly as a funny thing, but after giving this some thought, I think the story is something along the lines of "the bathroom needs to be assigned to either boys or girls exclusively (law), but we've only got one bathroom", so the bathroom is documented as, for example, girl's bathroom, but kids of both sexes go in there. However, they can't have a boy's stall in a girl's bathroom, so they assigned them animals, and teachers explain to students which one they belong in. I don't know for sure, but this is my hypothesis!

Both selfies and non-selfies, I hope you find something you like!

Hello! Im a self-taught beginner/intermediate artist and this is my first commission this big (30x70 cm, acrylic on canvas).

The piece is kind of time sensitive, as the commissioner ordered it as a birthday gift for his wife, on the day of her birthday (on Monday). He asked for some urgency, as he doesn't want the present to be too delayed.

The canvas arrived in the mail this morning, and I spent the afternoon painting this. I'm not sure what to think of the field, isn't it too sloppy? I made the petals with a thick layer of paint, hoping to achieve a kind of 3D effect, which is hard to see on the photo, but visible in real life.

And I know I could make the faces and clothes more detailed, but that would mean spending a lot more time on them, so I'm hoping current state looks good enough.

I'm charging roughly 166$ (600PLN), which is also the most I have ever charged for a painting. I don't know if it's a lot or not.

Do you think this piece looks ready enough, given the time sensitivity and price?

Despite getting almost no feedback on my last post, I'm posting the finished product as promised. Some time after finishing I see that the eyebrows look kinda wonky, but I think the loose way of painting leaves makes the face look better/more detailed by comparison.

I also would like some advice on how to improve my closed eye look in the future. How do I make the eyelashes visible without making it look like a lof of mascara? I am also not fully content with the lips, but I guess that the key is in the shape itself not shading particularly.

The lips are my biggest struggle, I'm constantly trying to fix them. Currently they look too barbie-like for my liking. Eyes are supposed to be closed, but I'm not concerned about them yet, because I'll get to them later, they're still unpolished. Similarly with the clothes, but I'll take any advice!

I'm using acrylics, and I gave myself the challange to use only two colors, yellow and dark blue (and a little bit of white).

I want to make the face look natural, for the lack of better word, but at the same time keep Mary looking young, and adding wrinkles (which is my go-to when I want my characters look less doll-like) won't do.

I've been using Our Lady of Medjugorje figure as my very loose reference, mostly during the sketch, so at this point I'm not really looking at it.

The subject itself came by trying to make modern folk art, which in my region was heavily influenced by religious elements. So I'm not really trying to be strictly realistic, as it wasn't something local folk artists concerned themselves with, but still I want my art to show some kind of skill.

Any advice welcome, and I promise to post the final result! ☺️