Step-son's Wood Portrait

[Marshall Border]

I'm not too pleased with the out-come of this cutting for sure . I did e-mail one of my friends Steve Good and he replyed back saying that this was a hard picture to cut in his eyes and went on to say a lot more things never the less to make me feel better about the whole matter .My first Portrait I cut came out so sweet , and this was my second Portrait , so I'm going to stop beating myself up over it . I want to grow as a scroller and not fail . The wife picked this picture out , but I'm as much to blame as her for sure . So I'll just try to look forward to a better job next time , any comments are welcome .........Marshall

[Brian Kent]

It looks classy to me. What is it that you are not satisfied with?

[John Keeton]

Marshall, I would say you nailed it pretty well! Doing a portrait in two tone is tough. Facial hair makes it tougher, and not being able to shade the mouth in. I think you did very well with it, and captured the eyes perfectly - that's the hard part!

[gary Zimmel]

Being a weekend warrior I am always striving to be better next time.

But in saying that you did pretty darn good with this one.
We seem to be our own worst critiques..
Nice job Marshall.

[Marshall Border]

Brian I guess that the hair , no one's hair is so perfect . I've been told since I've made this that no two Portriats are alike anyway, in the first Portrait I cut that was so great the hair was on the messed up stage and it showed in the cutting too . I thank you guys for being so nice in your comments , I'll just take this in stride ........

[Brian Kent]

What I like about it is the simplicity of a small number of well-placed lines suggesting the whole face. It is effective for me.

[John Thompson]

Looks fine to me.. as far as nobodies hair is perfect, don't let Donald Trump hear that statement or he'll get his hair mussed fuming.

[Chris S Anderson]

I like it. I don't see where any improvement could be made. I think you are your own worst critic.

[Kevin Godshall]

I have tried the scrolling thing and I don't near have the patience to do it. Having tried a few simple things, I really got an appreciation for those of you that are skilled at it.

I think your portrait is way above acceptable. The image matches the photo and there doesn't need to be a stretch of the imagination to say, "Yep, that's the same guy".

My only critique would be this: The hair, eyebrows, eyes, and mustache are very pronounced and dark. The nose, ears, and chin seem almost too diminished. This, to me, makes the portrait look a bit out of balance.

Having said that, I wouldn't know artistically how to remedy it, or if in trying, the portrait would go out of balance or perspective. The shading and the depth perception is really to me what defines scrolling expertise, and for me, impossible to obtain. Remember cardinal rule number something: Perfection is the enemy of good enough.

I would love to see your other portrait, with the photo you used. Maybe from that we can glean some insight into your disappointment with this one.

All in all, I think your piece here is a great job. And, I don't think the image we have to look at is nearly as good as what the actual piece looks like. Nice job!!

[Gerold Griffin]

I like it. Would also like to see your other facial portrait. Been on the turners forum mostly learning all I can, but seeing some good scroll saw work again is giving real strong desire to get back at it! If you don't mind me asking did you freehand draw the pattern or use a computer program? Would be interested in finding a good program to use. Again, I like the cutting. Keep up the good work.

[Marshall Border]

It was part PC and part hand drawn Pattern for this Portrait cutting , If later I can get the wife to find the first Portrait picture I'll download it . thanks again for the nice comments ...........Marshall