While what you have overall is very succesful (and ugh I feel so low critiquing a painting I myself cannot match) I don’t think the arm holding the blade is working, or rather lack of arm. She seems to have her hand coming out of her head. I’m not sure if you used photo reference for the pose, but I think some part of the arm should show on our side of the mirror as well. This is the only issue I can really critique on as I myself am not a very good painter. heheh. Good luck and keep up the hard work.
Into Your Eyes, Linda Bergkvist (2D)
tevih
#182
Awesome facial expressions in the mirror!! Didn’t notice the faces till Isaw the closeups and thenI was like WOAH! lol freaky… 8 thumbs up! 
jeiru
#183
I have the privilege of knowing your work in other forums and as always, superb work. In fact superb don’t even come close to how I was blown away by your masterpiece. Perhaps they should invent new words to describe your work! They are truly super-over-fantastic! 
(starting to become your fan)
arLutiK
#184
Wow Linda
the expression of the girl is amazing and the faces in the mirror just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
longorshort
#186
Great work. Just breath taking. Made me want to see more and I clicked on your avatar to see your personal site…
…hilarious story about your cat on your personal site. LOL! I have two cats and they amaze me at how creative they can be at creating noise to wake me to either feed them or play with them. They each have their own unique ways of creating noise and being pests… (I mean… cats). When I read your story and the BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, from your keyboard it made me laugh. Thanks for the chuckle
joeniemeloenie
#187
ow man !!! that just makes me wanna crie !!
it’s as sharp as Dali’s work, or even more!! that lightning, colours, just EVERYTHING is not improvable, just perfect !!
AWESOME job man!!!
techart
#189
amazing artwork Linda…have the D’artiste book and work is amazing…I admire very much your lighting…cheers…
Djampa
#190
Wow again! :shrug: 
:applause:
You take me and others emotional on your work.
I can ‘read’ and ‘feel’ your work and wanna comment and discuss it with you but as always I get blocked with my mouth opened, staring at it, speechless, with my mind travelling deep on each detail.
I keep in touch, always,
ayrads
#192
wow i have seen most of ur paintings and inspite of the fact the iam so awed and humbled…iam also honored to be able to post a comment.
i know u get this a lot but i absolutely LOVE ur work. i loooooove the way u juxtapose beauty and evil in most of ur paintings. its perfect.
seems like ur painting has made so much of an impression that no one seems to notice that the blade of the knife seems to be “cutting” into her thumb. or does the blade end much before the handle and her thumb is in within the gap? seems a bit of a tight squeeze if thats the case.
but anyhow…small details like that dont matter wen art like this touches sumthing deep inside ur psyche. and that imo is a successful piece of imagery.
Enigma_81
#193
this pic seems very violent ,doesn’t it?
The blood is so real than which i ever saw. Very good job!
:banghead: :bounce: :banghead:
keyboardnist
#195
really really really great .
this is one of the most beautiful piece i’ve ever seen .
fiftyfive
#196
my goodness, its like a pioneer porn shop in here.
and by porn i mean art.
awwwwsome stuff linda, you rock.
ian081271
#197
Hi there I really get lost in your work all your compositions are flawless.
PEACE
ian081271
Nekura
#198
Wow! What a fantastic painting! I love the duality it represents (I’m a big fan of art that hints at much more lying under the surface). 5 stars! :applause:
noen
#200
Well, with this in mind:
Critiques and responses to images are to be [i]constructive and related to improving the quality of the artwork[/i].
Ok, I believe that realism, or more accurately, the brand of realism shown here, is simply inadequate to the task it has been put to in this work. The emotions that are meant to be illustrated are just that, illustrated, not felt. The result is that in looking at your work, Linda, is that I feel distant from those very emotions you are attempting to convey. There is no connection, no ‘electricty’ going on and I miss that.
This is not to say that it is not beautifully executed, it most certainly is.
I would love it if you would break out of your realist shell. Please cut yourself loose, you can be so much better. Study some comtemporary artists like, Richard Schmidt or, even better, Sidney Goodman. Perhaps a little exploring into abstract expressionism would help. It is clear that you need no improvment in technique. You have clearly mastered your medium as well as the figure. It’s now time to push everything to a new level. Throw off your realist shackles and fly!
Yes yes, I know, it’s not that easy. In fact, its really very hard and involves a personal journey, a lot of inner work and some plain old hard work, without any assurance that you’ll succeed. It’s hard and it’s scary. It means really confronting your demons instead of pretending to. They are certainly far more frighting than the pale reflections you have here! It is so easy to convince yourself that you have them under control but that is an illusion. When you do finally face them your digital canvas will flow with real blood and tears!
--
It is my sincere belief that this critique is constructive and my intent is to improve the quality of the artwork. I feel that I have expressed my reactions in a manner that, hopefully, encourages the artist to grow beyond her current ability. I have not engaged in dismissive putdowns or other negative criticism. My hope is that Ms Bergkvist and, frankly, cgtalk itsself, will be the better for it. Fifteen pages of “irrelevant and unnecessary fluff”! I mean really, is that what you want cgtalk to be? Awwww, come on, you can do better, I know you can.
I write this with the real fear that it will be meet with hostility, perhaps I’ll get kicked off the boards. I don’t know. Perhaps my fears are unfounded. All that I do know are two things: these are my opinions and I’m tired of reading umpteen pages of fluff. If you ask me, not that anyone has, but the absense of any real criticism has hurt cgtalk and I really do, honestly, care about cgtalk. I hope that my little critique has shown that one can criticize without being abusive. It’s a matter of intent. It’s up to you, dear reader, to step up also, instead of just the reflexive, “Yay! Way to go!”. Have something worth the bandwidth to say. Cgtalk is, or has been, close to shutting it’s doors, so ask yourself, “How have I contributed to cgtalk to make it a better place?”
sincerely
noen