Waiting And Waiting, 36 x 48 inches, oil on linen
This is a commissioned painting, just completed and approved. It's a fairly large painting (36 x 48) so it took a while to do. It's more than just having to cover a large area. To paint things believably, I have to actually pay attention to how those things are constructed. On a small painting, little details like flyers in the windows may just be abstract dabs of paint, not even looking like rectangles. At this scale, the same dabs have to become not only rectangles, but rectangles in perspective. But if I painted them precisely and accurately, the painting will become too tight and realistic, losing something intangible along the way. It's a really tricky balancing act which I find both challenging, and when I can pull it off, rewarding.
This painting does look pretty tight on the computer screen at this tiny scale, but in person, it's not so tediously rendered. I tried to keep some life in each stroke, and I'm pretty happy with the result. The mood created by the weak sunlight and shadow is exactly how I imagined it.
After this photo was taken, the client requested a change, and I repainted the figure. Not a drastic change, just an adjustment in the attitude of the main character. The photo of the final version had some glares so I'm posting the earlier version.
You can see it much better if you click on the image.
Did anyone say Hopperesque? Yes, I was channelling the ghost of Ed when I conceived this picture. If anyone caught that the figure resembled Josephine, I'd be impressed. In the final version, she doesn't look like Jo. I thought it was kinda fun that it looked like her, but it's irrelevant after all.
Now I have to crate it and ship it off to... Philadelphia?
6 comments:
we all wanna paint a bit hopperious, but you can do it.
It's perfect, the depth in de window, the strokes, the colours, the contrats.
What did you change? Flatten her bum?
Spectacular painting...I love the muted colors...a tip of the hat to Hopper for sure but very much your own...love it, Terry.
Fabulous work, Terry and a different style than I am used to seeing here on your blog. Josephine the Plumber? Or is it Josephine from history (does she go with Claudius; I forget?!)?
thanks Geert-Jan, Cathyann, and AutumnLeaves~
Josephine was Ed's wife. She modeled for many of his paintings, and by many accounts, they had their share of marital issues. Nothing beyond the ordinary, (well I don't know that, really, but I assume) but reading about their lives I get the sense that she was a little firecracker and bullied Ed sometimes.
Congratulations on an outstanding painting; it's very inspiring!
Thanks Leslie!
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