Dear Gail,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for deciding to offer a critique service. I’ve admired your How To Pastel website with all your valuable tips, your art history reviews and your monthly artist choices to consider and enjoy. You are a knowledgeable wordsmith when it comes to explaining what’s going on in an artwork both historical and contemporary.

 
So, of course I wanted you to critique some of my work. I wanted to ask you to be my “second set of eyes” and help me through some of my uncertainty.

 
I chose three of my recent landscape pieces, one that I thought successful and liked and two that I wasn’t at all sure about. I emailed a photo of each for your critique and anxiously awaited your reply. What a surprise! it was not the few paragraphs I expected, it was a private video prepared just for me.

 
The first video was on the piece I thought successful. You liked it too but found a few places that could be better with adjustments. You were right on target, the areas you suggested were the very same spots that I anguished over not only during the work but also afterwards. Your suggestions helped me to re-evaluate my work and guided me to a more cohesive finish that I could feel comfortable with.

 
The video critiques of my second two paintings were high on the learning curve. Wow, Did you open my eyes! You showed me how to crop to make my work more exciting. By changing the format through cropping, the focal point and subject matter became distinctly different. Why hadn’t I thought of that? This is where your keen appraisal was such a help to me.

 
Your critiques have given me so much to think about when evaluating my work. It is comforting to know you are there as a “second set of eyes” when struggling to be objective. Thank you for adding this valuable service for artists.

Warmly,

Gailen Lovett