Thursday, December 08, 2016

Portrait of Us: Rough Sketch 1 with Figures on Right


This is a very rough sketch for a new project, a commissioned double portrait.  I am just getting started, but I will be working from a favorite photo of this couple. The photo shows the couple on vacation in Greece, touring on motor bikes, hence the helmets. The original photo was composed for a square format, but the painting is going to be more rectangular, to give a little more space for the figures and I hope a little space to suggest some of the background (from some of their vacation photos). I decided that the first task was to come up some sketches for the composition. The canvas will be 14 x 18 inches, so I drew a 7 x 9 inch rectangle on graph paper, and did a rough sketch with blue Sharpie pen.  This wasn't an attempt to get a likeness, but just an way to try out the composition. The next step was to photograph the sketch, load it into the computer, and then use some digital magic to try out  alternative compositions. "Portrait of Us" was the title given to the photo this couple, and I liked it, so that's the title I am using for the painting as well. I am going to be posting my progress here, so there will be more to come.

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