Sunday, December 06, 2009

Finished commission

Here's the final version. After much considering - and input from others - (thanks again, all!!) - I decided to first finish the areas that I felt needed more work, i.e., deepening and adding more blue purplish tones to the shadows around the dogs and in the foreground. I also softened that left post, added some warm tones to it and misted the greenery in the background so that it receded a bit more. Then I re-evaluated once again.

Portrait of Sassy and Katie, 36 x 48, acrylic on canvas. Private commission.

Among my friends, I'm known as a painter of "empty" spaces and lonesome landscapes. It's true that I like a certain austerity of composition for the most part. Formal compositions according to the book just, well, bore me. I like a certain tension - and I like to lead the eye by various means that won't be too obvious. By deepening the shadows and carrying those deeper colors down and off the left foreground, I feel there is interest without having resorted to a status quo solution. At least that's how I see it!

The client loved it - and let's face it - that's really important.

I've been enlarging some photos as I post them - but the proportions don't always come out perfectly, resulting in slight blurring. I'm going to leave this one alone, so to see more detail, just click to enlarge.

The original posting (before changes) is shown below:

10 comments:

Jeane Myers said...

Patrice you are extremely talented - this finished portrait is wonderful and hits all the right notes - the expressions on the dogs faces are so alive - I wonder what the German Shepherd has just seen :)

Roy said...

This is good work, Patrice! The client should be very happy with this.

Patrice said...

Jeane - thanks... The shepherd is quite elderly now and actually has cataracts, making her eyes rather dull. The challenge was that the owner asked me to give her a "younger" look so I worked at giving her a youthful sparkle.

Thanks Roy. She is.!! I've another commission to do for the same client of her three horses. Another challenge!

~Babs said...

A truly masterful piece!
Of course the client loved it,,,,what's not to love!

mansuetude said...

two extreme personalities in the posture, the gaze.

Lovely.

cohen labelle said...

Patrice: Congratulations on finishing this. You made all the right moves. It's simply beautiful! Your client must be ecstatic, I know I would be!

Marcia

DJ said...

Patrice, that is one beautiful painting! Your work has a sensitivity that so many artists lack.

Someday, we're going to meet and I'm going to buy my Fave Georgia Artist lunch!

Just because we gotta...

Liquid &Tunsie said...

Merry Christmas all! Thanks for providing this wonderful and inspirational Blog! Wishing you loads of JOY!!

Ed & Jeanne said...

Nice work!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful!!! I just love it. You know, I've got a couple (meaning four) cats... hmmmmm....