When the portraitist begins by focusing simply on the subject’s surface image, of course the tendency is to place it front and center. When one begins by thinking about the subject’s other qualities and other objects central to his or her life, a more complex composition may naturally evolve.
_____________________________________________________________________
In the Comments following my blog entry “Portrait Composition: Old World vs. New?” portraitist Alexandra Tyng provided a link to a portraitartist.com forum description of her process in painting her mother, the architect Anne Tyng (see Comments below). I followed up with a further question to Tyng on the portraitartist.com forum. My question related to both her portrait of her mother and that of the artist Edna Andrade:
“How did you make the decision to include an element that would necessitate placing the subject’s head relatively low on the canvas, with the element extending substantially above the head?”
Portraits of Anne Tyng and Edna Andrade, by Alexandra Tyng. See earlier post for larger image.
Tyng wrote such an interesting response that I asked her permission to quote it here. She agreed. Here it is:
“To answer your question, I don’t ever think, ‘I’m going to try a portrait with the head placed lower in the composition.’ The placement of the figure comes about on an individual basis, and is a direct result of what I want to say in that particular portrait.
“In the portrait of my mother [an architect], I wanted to emphasize that she is a very small woman with large (great) ideas. I started imagining what a portrait of her would look like, and ideas came to me. She always made a lot of geometrical models that hung from the ceiling of her studio. She also designed some unbuilt structures, my favorite being the Philadelphia city tower project. I played around with ways to arrange these elements in the composition, which led to deciding on the dimensions and size and placement of her figure.
“With the portrait of Edna Andrade, it just naturally happened that she had a very large painting in her living room that I wanted to use for a background. To give a sense of the size and impact of the painting I needed to move it close to the picture plane. She had Victorian furniture (inherited from family) whose shapes echoed the shapes in the painting, and I thought it was an interesting play between her traditional Southern background and her very contemporary work. She wanted to be seated in the portrait so it just worked out that way. The way I arrange compositions is mostly intuitive. A lot of times I see something that will work, that says what I want to say. There are limitless possibilities for placing the figure in a composition.”
I felt it was instructive that Tyng started the process of determining the composition for these portraits by thinking through the more abstract qualities of her subjects, not just their physical appearance. I suspect many portrait artists – myself included – tend to begin with the surface image of the subject, rather than right-brain associations with other qualities of the subject – the small woman with great ideas building models she hangs from her studio ceiling. When the portraitist begins by focusing simply on the subject’s surface image, of course the tendency is to place it front and center. When one begins by thinking about the subject’s other qualities and other objects central to his or her life, a more complex composition may naturally evolve.
For Edna Andrade’s portrait, Tyng began with shape components first – their similarity in the modern painting in the background and Andrade’s Victorian furniture. This then became a reference to the more abstract qualities of Andrade’s traditional Southern background and her very contemporary style of painting. The complex associations between shapes generated a wonderful composition and portrait.
black market websites credit cards https://darknet-webmart.com/ – uk darknet markets
darknet litecoin https://darknetonionmarket.shop/ – dark web step by step
darknet market adressen https://darknetdarkweb.com/ – archetyp url
darknet market dash https://darknetmarketlinkz.shop/ – the onion directory
dark web market list https://darknetdrugmarketplace.shop/ – darknet markets noob
dark chart https://darknetdrugstoree.link/ – site darknet market
мега кокаин https://hydra-darknets.shop/ – мега onion магазин
mega onion оффициальный сайт https://hydra-markets.shop/ – ьупф ьфклуе
deepdotweb markets https://darknetdrugmarketonline.shop/ – darkweb sites reddit
darknet black market list https://darknetmarketlux.com/ – how to browse the dark web reddit
deep web search engine url https://darknetmarketprivate.shop/ – darknet onion markets reddit
darknet market canada https://darknetdrugsshops.link/ – shop ccs carding
cannahome url https://darknetonionmarkets.link/ – how to use darknet markets
darknet market guide reddit https://darknetonionmarket.com/ – brick market
dark markets india https://darknetdrugstores24.com/ – how to use darknet markets
darknet market noobs reddit https://darknet-tor-market.shop/ – how to access dark net
black market prescription drugs https://darknetmarketsabc.shop/ – darknet drug prices
tor2door market darknet https://darknet-tormarket.shop/ – dark markets poland
versus market darknet https://darknetdarkweb.shop/ – dark markets paraguay
darknet market package https://darknet-tor-markets.shop/ – dark web sales
мега onion зеркала https://hydra-market.link/ – даркнет сайты магазин
tor2door market link https://darknet-drugurl.com/ – darknet market vendors search
best darknet markets reddit https://darknet-tormarkets.com/ – alphabay market url
ссылки на даркнет https://hydra-onion.link/ – мега ссылка
darknet market dash https://darknetdrugmarketss.link/ – underground black market website
mega market https://hydra-darknets.shop/ – мега зеркало
darknet market adressen https://darknetdmarketsweb.com/ – dark web payment methods
black market prescription drugs for sale https://darknetmarketplaceone.com/ – uk darknet markets
versus market url https://darknetmarketplacelink.shop/ – black market prescription drugs for sale
darknet sites url https://darknetdruglinklist.shop/ – dark web website links
what darknet markets are open https://darknetdruglinklist.com/ – onion market url
how to create a darknet market https://darknetdrugsshops.shop/ – cannabis dark web
dark markets new zealand https://darknetmarket-onion.link/ – darknet market wikia
best darknet drug sites https://darknetdmarketsweb.link/ – darknet market xanax
dark markets venezuela https://darknetmarketplacelink.com/ – dark markets korea
mega onion зеркала https://hydradarkweb.shop/ – mega onion оффициальный сайт
darknet markets australia https://darknet-webmart.shop/ – gbl drug wiki
cypher market darknet https://darknet-market24.link/ – darknet illicit drugs
tormarket onion https://darknetdrugmarketonline.com/ – decabol pills
safe darknet markets https://darknetdrugstores24.shop/ – darknet drugs sites
darknet market bible https://darknet-markets24.com/ – how to access the dark web reddit
open darknet markets https://darknetonionmarket.shop/ – dark web sites drugs
dark markets montenegro https://darknetdrugslinkss.com/ – darkfox market darknet
dark markets iceland https://darknetdruglist24.com/ – darknet onion markets
weed darknet market https://darknet-tor-market.com/ – darknet market url
black market cryptocurrency https://darknetonionmarket.link/ – shop ccs carding
guns dark market https://darknetdarkweb.shop/ – onion linkek
australian darknet markets https://darknet-webmart.com/ – euroguns deep web
mega onion https://hydra-markets.link/ – darknet сайт
best darknet market for weed uk https://darknetdrugmarketplace.com/ – deep web cc sites