15/04/2024
Olivia
1x1m of our late beloved Olivia of one of our fav photos of her. Been really focusing on composition lately, and I think this one is a culmination of my current experiments. Been trying to focus on the subject at hand while giving a fading taste of the context. The main struggle so far being keeping the context low key, since I wanted Olivia to be the first and last thing you see in this painting. And it’s a struggle because I love to get lost in adding details, so on the third layer, I’ve added a never ending complexity to the fabric she’s sitting on. To keep it low key I’ve worked the colors to introduce less contrast to the surrounding, and even less of it to the distant background. I’m trying as well to reduce the amount of information as I progress to the background. However, I like a painting (specially this size) to have unnecessary details lying around. That lets you drift around and savour different parts of the picture, not just what’s more important in it. To keep a hierarchy between the things portrayed, the details and shadows should work together as much as possible to bring the main topic to evidence.
As my interest grows for composition, I would invite anyone interested in the topic to share your thoughts, and if possible, share here also a composition you really like and why.
This is the third layer. I’m still considering a 4th layer but will let it sit like that for a while at least.
