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.
tor markets blackweb
dark web links how to access dark web
dark web access tor market links
alphabay market alphabay market
drug markets onion drug markets onion
dark web sites dark web search engines
alphabay market link alphabay market url
dark market url darkweb marketplace
dark web sites links tor markets
dark net darknet market lists
alphabay market link alphabay market link
darknet market lists blackweb
drug markets dark web the dark internet
dark web site darknet drug links
tor marketplace dark web search engine
darknet drug market darkmarket
dark web markets deep web markets
darknet market list dark web market links
best darknet markets deep web drug markets
alphabay market url alphabay link
darknet drug store blackweb official website
dark web sites blackweb
dark web search engines dark web websites
dark web sites dark market url
dark web links dark market url
deep web links dark web market links
black internet darknet site
alphabay market url alphabay link
Thanks for the good writeup. It actually was a entertainment accountit. Look advanced to more brought agreeable from you!However, how can we keep up a correspondence?
order ampicillin for sale ampicillin 500mg oral buy erythromycin 500mg pill
celsius apartments apartments in memphis 6ft apart
dark web sites dark web link
darkmarket darknet market lists
drug markets dark web tor markets 2022
order fildena 100mg bimatoprost online buy buy methocarbamol 500mg
is sildenafil safe sildenafil citrate pills
When someone writes an post he/she retains the idea of a user in his/her brain that how a user can be aware of it.Therefore that’s why this piece of writing is great.Thanks!Look at my blog post :: kim kardashian marriages
darknet market links deep web drug links
It reflects the total quantity of the payout as opposed to the profit, exactlywhere each bet placed is against a particular decimal worth.
Thank you for any other great post. The place else may anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect method of writing? I have a presentation subsequent week, and I am on the look for such information.
order sildenafil 50mg generic careprost tablet order robaxin 500mg generic
deep web drug markets dark net
free dark web deep web drug markets
Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group?There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content.Please let me know. Many thanks
เว็บไซต์ไหนที่ว่าดี เว็บไซต์ไหนที่ว่าเด็ด ผมลองมาหมดแล้วนะครับ ตอนนี้มาตกลงใจตรงนี้เลยครับ UFABET จะต้องสารภาพว่าระบบเค้าเจ๋งสุดแล้วที่ผมเล่นมากมาย ไม่กระตุกไม่ค้าง ฝากเงินอัตโนมัติ ยิ่งสะดวกเร็วทันใจ ที่สำคัญมีคณะทำงานคอยแนะนำ 1 วัน
buy suhagra 50mg pills buy suhagra pill generic estradiol 1mg
modafinil pill provigil over the counter modafinil online
When someone writes an article he/she keeps the thought of a user in his/her mind that how a user can be awareof it. Thus that’s why this paragraph is amazing.Thanks!
Tráiler de Mata tu afecto: idioma griego Hoult sol en la sátira oscura
An interesting discussion is worth comment.I believe that you need to publish more about this topic, it mightnot be a taboo subject but usually people don’t talk about such topics.To the next! Many thanks!!