Wedding Portrait Boquete, acrylic on canvas, 20x25in, 2020
República de Chiriquí
My first painting to be delivered to such an extreme side of the world.
Back to painting on top of a salmony pink underground which I decided to leave visible for the first time within the actual constraints of the finished piece as it should be framed. See the second picture below to see the complete canvas before stretching/framing. I always leave pencil marks to indicate to the framer how it should be stretched.
As in the Taiwan wedding portrait, I again decided to not completely cover the underpainting, and pieces of naked canvas can be seen along the edges. That piece was actually the first one to leave the underground very visible, however it doesn't quite do the same thing as this one, since that color was so neutral that it blended into the background. In this case the salmon underpainting acts like a bright border.
The background is flat silver (as compared to other highly textured backgrounds I've done), however these photos were taken outside of my uncle's house in Boquete in a lush garden, so the silver is reflecting a lot of green. See the last photo. I am looking forward to see what this one looks like framed and in its final destination.
Again very light pastels on the bride's clothes and purples and greens for the groom's dark suit. In the original photo she is wearing a lace dress, this is a very loose interpretation of the lace pattern, and the skirt is made to look quite fluffy...
I had a pretty great time playing with colors and I really like how the hands turned out. If you know me, you know I'm into fingernails, and I just love how these hands look with very little definition, it reminds me of early Disney animations where Snow White's fingers were just pointy. The lack of contrast on her hands especially, reminds me of graphic design prints... I think in general my work is going in that direction. It's the natural progression from using acrylic paint and giving up on blending.
Painted from a photograph by Susana Santos provided by the collector.
Tap or click on the images below to enlarge.
