Criticism; when is it appropriate?

First, I want to be sure this is not a husband bashing post. My husband is a great man. Period. We do disagree, we are human. We, neither one of us, are perfect. We make mistakes in the relationship. The fact we've made it 20 years is a testament we are not quitters with life gets rough. Could we improve? I know I can and at the moment, I wish he would. 

I paint. Not walls but canvas. I use Golden brand acrylics almost exclusively. Even though I've only gotten $30.00 for one small painting and bartered others off for various reasons, I still look AT&T his as my job. It's work I love. The problem lies when I show my husband a painting. He always sucks in his air, like someone trying to keep from letting his negative thoughts out, and then sits silently holding that breathe for a long while before letting it go and saying something less than nice but not entirely mean. 

Last night I finished a painting I've been working on for a long time. I don't paint around him so I have to wait until he is at work and I have the time to devote so much time tinkering and touch up and adding layers of paint for hours. I digress, so, he came home and I plopped the painting in front of him. He did the breathe and squinted and sat silent until he uddered the words, "it's nice, BUT he looks like he is wearing make-up." His face said it all, "I don't like it." I grabbed the painting and said, "I never should have shown you, you never like any of my work." Then he sat there with a blank stare and after a while said, "that's not true." But his face still said something else. I walked off. Later I told him I wished he was my biggest fan and he stared again. He's not a liar and he can't do a poker face with me to save his life. He gave me, "you're creative." Speech later.  It felt like he was saying, " but I don't like it." Without saying it. 

My expectations are hurt more than anything. I just thought he would want to build me up like I try to do for him when he works on something. I don't want him to lie, I just wish that love for my work was there in his heart. It's not and that is what saddens mine. When he said, "what do you want me to say?" I felt horrible. I'm not about to tell him what to say. That wouldn't be honest and that wouldn't make me feel any better knowing I told him what to say and how to say it. 

The end result was my excitement over my own work waned and I feel less than creative today. Disappointed.