Work in Progress…the Progress continues.

Work has continued on the portrait.  I’ve tried to balance the desire to focus on the faces of the subject with the need to keep the painting moving forward as one whole piece.  The environment is starting to come together which is always an exciting part of the process.

I’ve spent a lot of time look at the supporting elements of this painting and their placement.  Most of these things can go anywhere. How do you decide?  You have to stop and look at the painting as a viewer and say to yourself, “Where is my eye stopping and lingering?  Where is my eye getting stuck? And what is my eye missing?” As the painting’s creator, I can control the placement of anything on the canvas.  It is always amazing how a tree branch here, or a sunflower there, can make a world of difference in the path that your eye takes through a picture.  With a portrait, a view will always look to the faces first, and that’s usually what you want. But it’s nice if you can give them an interesting and beautiful place to live as well.

The series of corrections continues.