From the Desk of Klassylady

[Ratz]

Looks beautiful Candy!  :up: Well done!

[klassylady25]

Oh boy......... this has been a task.  She is almost ready to go home  but wanted to share her with you and see what your think before sending her home.  As for the signature, I'm not sure of it all but have recreated that which I did see.  Would welcome your thoughts.

[glennab]

Hi Candy

She's gorgeous, but I see some disparity in the shape of the bottom of her face and her mouth compared to the original.  My impression is that she's a little rounder in the face (chin not so pointed) and with a bit fuller lips.  Mind you, I'm looking with OLD eyes and it's easier for you to see the comparison with the high-res files, but those were just the things that struck me.

I love her hair.  You definitely nailed that. You have a wonderful touch with these "delicate" restorations!

Have a great day.

Glenna

[klassylady25]

Thank you Glenna.  Like your military man......... you can look at it until you can't see.  I will look at her again through your good OLD eyes and between the two of us....... 

The mouth:  I have growled over that for many nights.  There's where a great deal of the damage was and I couldn't decide how to work with it. I even laid out grid lines to mark top and bottom of the lips and don't even ask about the teeth!!  They are false you know. 

I'm glad you spotted the face.  I thought I saw a more "youthfull" fullness there just before tucking her in (somewhere around 1am) will re-look there too. 

How's she look now?

[RosyBijou]

It's amazing how a subtle change can just pull it all together!

Candy, she looks just lovely!  I have to give you a lot of credit for taking this one on---it's hard enough restoring a photograph, but to bring back an artist's work and maintain not just the image integrity, but the artist's style as well just adds to the complexity of the job!  it has been fascinating to watch the evolution of this image and your end result is just beautiful...

Well done!   :up:

[Ausimax]

Candice, you seem to have lost a lot of the original character of the original face.



Max

[RosyBijou]

I don't know, Max--I've been sitting here, scrolling back and forth... back and forth... and the only disparity that I see is that the shadowing is a little more intense in the original--but I'm thinking that that might be more a result of the entire image being lightened (because it's cleaned up).   My huey keeps flicking my screen (because of a movie that my hubby's watching!) so I'm having a hard time with my images tonite, but I think this looks really nice!

[cmpentecost]

Candice,

I think this looks great.  There are some differences between the original and what you did, such as the lips.  The original is a brighter red, but it appears you also did an overall tonal correction.  I love the eyes in your restored photo.  That is what really draws me into the photo.  If I was to suggest anything, you might want to sofen the white on the collar.  Otherwise, beautiful job.

Christine

[klassylady25]

The print above is the final draft and I will be sending her home.  My last step was to bring up the chin, rework the lips, and the final step was to measure her for accuracy.  Her cheeks, top hair line, chin, corner to corner of lips, horizontal position of the top and bottom lip  all match the original.  Yes, I did lighten but kept what was important.  The original, I believe was grayed and yellowed by nature.  The sweater probably was cashmere, but that's a guess at best.  Very little detail was left to really know if it was even a sweater.  I am pleased and I believe that the owner will be too.  Printed it out this morning and it looks great in print. 

Hugz to all for your eyes and suggestions!!    :-* Mwaaaa   

[zapphnath]

I think she looks great and the owners should be very pleased.

[glennab]

Candy, she's lovely.  The revisions you made did the trick.  I'd say you can be proud to send her back to her loved ones!

Hugz back at ya!

Glenna

[klassylady25]

 :up:  Thanks Glenna and Zapp. Also, to all that played my eyes.  I absolutely love the team work here!!  You all make it a very special place to work.

In the mean time I've finished off another little project for OPR. The original is 3613x2400 300  DPI and the top and bottom were cut away.  I thought I'd try that.  Boy was that fun..... oval and all!!   :D   Let me know what you think of the frame coloration?  I might lighten it.  The rest will stand.  My husband, who was born and raised in New Orleans, says that it looks as if you're standing at the trolly stop on St. Charles Avenue.

Yawnnnnnnn I'm going to bed.  Sweet dreams!!

[RosyBijou]

I love the restored trolley!  The coloring is perfect! 

As to the matt, it's such a subjective thing.  I love the paper texture and variation of hue--those you should keep no matter what color you settle on for the matt. 

The red is dramatic and makes for a statement piece, but to me it competes with the doors of trolley, which I think is what pulls your eye in and then around the image.  I would use a matt like that if I were trying to match the print to my decor (which actually does have a lot of burgandys & reds... actually, that WOULD look perfect in this room, just as it is... :) ), but I think the print itself would be better enhanced by a more neutral color so that the eye zero's right in on the beautiful artwork...

I also really like the double matt effect with the ivory next to the image.  It nicely frames the white background of the print.  Would you consider beveling the outer matt too?

Now, (just to be devil's advocate... >:D ), it seems that the matt isn't part of the original image.  Maybe you should consider leaving it off all together so the owners can re-matt it themselves.  That way you won't lose the bottom part of the foreground tree trunk...

Regardless, you did a top-notch job!

[kiska]

The work you did looks great. I'm gonna go with Rosy about the matte. I think they leave the mattes on when copying, so as not to damage the pic further. I remove all mattes when restoring, then the owner can frame it as they please. The exception being those decorative round mattes I've seen popping up lately.

Just an opinion.  :cool:

[glennab]

Hi Candy --

I'm going to have to disagree on the color.  I think the original has a wonderful aged look that to me would be fitting of the era of the painting.  What would it look like if you combined the two versions to mute the poster-like colors of the restoration?  Maybe allow a little color to show through but keep the antique look, especially the light beige background.

I'd eliminate the matte, increase the size of the canvas to include the area that would have encompassed the entirety of the oval and then fill that whole area with the background color from within the oval.  I agree with kiska that doing so will allow the owners more flexibility in re-framing the image.

Conversely, if you decided to keep the oval matte, my suggestion would be to recreate it so that it's smooth.  You can create an oval marquee to match the size of the existing oval on a separate layer, give it a stroke to match the color and bevel the stroke to give it the same look, but more even.

Good luck sorting out all the differing opinions!

Glenna