Looks like I did a pretty poor job of cropping this image, doesn't it? But the fact is — what you see of the figure on the left is all that I drew, because I wanted to place the rest of the young man's face and body outside the picture plane. I'll tell you what I was trying to achieve with this strategy in a moment, but let's look first at the sin I committed by implementing it.
Meet the Young girls, Olivia and Julia — the lovely subjects of an oil portrait that I completed a few days ago.
The Young Girls, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 24"
The girls' father (who commissioned the double portrait) came to pick it up on the very day it was finished, while it was still wet. (Parts were very wet indeed!) Nevertheless, I needed to record the work for my portfolio before it left the building. So within the short amount of time allotted, I endeavored to get a usable shot.
Over 90 self-portaits of Rembrandt van Rijn are said to have survived to this day — making him arguably the most prolific self-portaitist of all time. Although the great Dutch master had no dearth of subjects willing to sit hour after hour, day after day, even month after month — he obviously found it deeply instructive to paint his own reflection, over and over and over again.
I, however, have nothing but dearth when it comes to subjects willing to sit for a live portrait; and as a result, I work almost exclusively from photographic references. But there is one model who is always on hand and happy to pose . . .
Me, Myself, and I (and Me Again, with Spouse)
Three of the works in this gallery are acrylic on canvas — and the last is obviously charcoal on paper. The first two are quick studies from life using a mirror and only four colors, and working alla prima — which means
Bear Medicine • 18.5"x24" o/c | Read a FREE EXCERPT from the book
The Safety of Triangles (click the image below for a larger view)
Composition is often the trickiest element in a work's success and I struggle with it as much as any artist. But I find that I can rarely go wrong with a triangular composition.
