new look to civil war portrait

[unlikelymoose]

Comments

looking good

[artdude75]

wow, and i was suggesting cutting the wood down to crop out the extra white space. But instead this treatment is so much better. I would definitely continue with this treatment.

Why? because:
1) It leverages your current paintings to make them better (instead of starting from scratch
2) You don't have to make the painting smaller. Bigger paintings are worth more
3) It looks very cool. Outlines like this have been quite the hip thing for some time now.
4) It may seem time intensive to do this now, but as you figure what elements to use, you'll gain a knowledge of what works, and it will be much faster to find materials to use. Do you keep a hanging file of all the elements you use?
5) These extra elements give you a chance to add more color to the work. Instead of just a brown/white on wood, now you are introducing a fine color palette.

Re: looking good

[unlikelymoose]

thanks for your insight. I'm confident that the process will be streamlined the more I do this. I've always been interested in this kind of collage technique. There was a show at Wesleyan in the Wakeley Gallery when we were sophomores. I really have no idea who the artist was, but his work really stuck with me. He employed a similiar layering technique. He used a lot of deep reds and ocre-yellows. His work had a better sense of rhythm and composition. Though I'm learning. I definitely need to develop more repetition of pattern in the paintings.

a hanging file? well, I have a stack of papers in the upstairs studio and a stack of papers in the basement. I need to hole punch 'em and get a binder system going. I find binders work better than hanging files... easier to flip through.

[jenniferblaufra]

I love the colors, and the birds are really cool. The whole thing gives me a bark/twigs/wood feel, and it kind of feels like money with the 2. I love it. :)

[unlikelymoose]

thanks! it's always great to hear people's opinions. You bring up a couple great points. I never really thought about the bark/twigs/wood feel directly. I consciously knew the painting would have a gritty organic feel, but I never directly related them to such materials. It's a great analogy because now the birds really fit into the painting with the color palette's twig-like feel. And the portrait fits into the wood feel because my illustration technique is inspired by early 20th century German woodcuts.

And not only does the "2" give it a money feel, but the framework around the portrait kinda has that dollar bill look. And a lot of foreign currency uses illustration of wildlife, so the bird element ties into that thought as well. cool.

[jenniferblaufra]

Yes. The more I study it, the more I like it. You've got fantastic style. :)