From the Artist: I painted this just for this project. The freedom of subject and limitation of color intrigued me.
From the Painting Guide: When I was setting out the project I decided that if I was going to limit the number of colors, I better not limit the subject too or people might feel too restricted! But as it turns out, many people have discovered the joy of working with a limited palette and of mixing colors.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Background vs Subject: The term "background" isn't synonymous with "after-thought". On the contrary, a background can make or break a painting and should be given as much consideration (if not painting time) as the main subject of a painting. How much you have going on in a background is a matter of personal preference and style. As if whether you want the subject to dominate the composition or to be more merged with the background.
This painting has a relatively busy background, but squint at it so the light and dark tones dominate more and you'll see how the figure is dominated by light tones that occur in only one part of the background. This gives the figure a unity and separates it from the background.
I've no way of knowing whether it's intentional or not, but to my eye the shape of light tone at the top in the background looks rather like a speech bubble.
From the Painting Guide: When I was setting out the project I decided that if I was going to limit the number of colors, I better not limit the subject too or people might feel too restricted! But as it turns out, many people have discovered the joy of working with a limited palette and of mixing colors.
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Background vs Subject: The term "background" isn't synonymous with "after-thought". On the contrary, a background can make or break a painting and should be given as much consideration (if not painting time) as the main subject of a painting. How much you have going on in a background is a matter of personal preference and style. As if whether you want the subject to dominate the composition or to be more merged with the background.
This painting has a relatively busy background, but squint at it so the light and dark tones dominate more and you'll see how the figure is dominated by light tones that occur in only one part of the background. This gives the figure a unity and separates it from the background.
I've no way of knowing whether it's intentional or not, but to my eye the shape of light tone at the top in the background looks rather like a speech bubble.