I have been working on a cottage commission that is actually making me long for the summer months ahead when I can get back to the lake. Like my own family cottage - this project is a very special place to a family who has enjoyed summer fun with multi generations, and they wanted a keepsake they could reflect back on with many fond memories.
It was decided that the patriarch of the family should be in the painting but the only image they could share with me was one that did not come with the cottage photo. Thus...I had to try and figure out - what size should Mr. B. be? I copied and pasted him over and over and photoshopped him as many different sizes. I scoured the internet looking for some rule of thumb as to how big should a person be when you are inserting them into a painting...how do you know if they should be towering over the scene like the Jolly Green Giant or should they be more like Tom Thumb to keep things in perspective.
I never did come across any rule of thumb to help me out. (Please share with me if you know the answer!) So, I had many different sizes of Mr. B....all spread out on my painting table - trying to figure out just by eyeballing it - which image looked the best! They marched across my painting surface in a variety of formats until I had settled on the one I felt was best fitting the complete image. How did I do? Do you think the size I chose fits the whole painting? Does size really matter??
PS - I had to throw this in there because it is ...well......so me! Yes - I am probably the messiest painter I know. Paint in my hair, face and clothes is fairly common...so is using my whole hand to paint a sky blue! HA!
This gives you a quick idea of my thought process of creating a painting
1) Make some thumbnail sketches -
2) Give thought to the armature, shapes and focal points
3) Figure out how I can make the biggest mess
4) Forge ahead until I get stuck on a concept - BTW - Size DOES matter!
5) Make the necessary decisions
6) Finish it off and call it a day!
This is just a bit of trivia but my Blog - which is extremely sporadic - has been listed as one of the top 30 Art Blogs in Canada - so I am very appreciative for you to be reading this and sharing it with your friends if you wish.
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada