Yesterday I posted a very rough sketch for a new project, a commissioned double portrait. I will be working from a favorite photo of this couple; the photo shows the couple on vacation in Greece, touring on motor bikes, which is why they are wearing helmets. Although the photo seems to emphasize a square composition, the painting will be rectangular (14 x 18 inches), providing more breathing space for the figures and perhaps an opportunity to suggest some a bit of background, drawn from additional vacation photos. So my first task was to decide on the composition. I made a very rough sketch with blue Sharpie on graph paper (at half size, 7 x 9 inches), which is the sketch I posted yesterday. I wasn't trying for a likeness in the rough sketch, but just working out placement issues. Once I had the rough sketch, I photographed it and transferred the image into the computer. Then I opened the image in Painter and used cut-and-paste (and some digital pastel) to change the position of the figures, moving them to the left side. The original photo shows the figures at the left, but no room behind them on the right. The advantage of this version is that there is plenty of room to put in some background in the distance. But there are two problems. There is too much room in the foreground on the right, so I would be forced to "invent" too much as a result. The second problem is that because the figures are more or less facing towards the left side of the canvas, that will usher the viewer's eyes directly to the edge of the canvas and out. But I came up with a third version which I plan to post tomorrow.
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