My First Oil Painting
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Cover of Vogue Italia
We were tasked to create a painting using only primary colors and white paints. However, we couldn’t have any primary colors showing in our piece, only secondary colors, and tints. We could paint anything of our choosing as long as it was original.
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The photo on the right is the reference photo I chose. It is the cover of an issue of Vogue Italia.
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My Historical Reference
The art style of the portrait reminds me of 17th-century portraits of women. I defiantly looked at 17th-century era paintings for my art style with the portrait. Like 17th century portraits of women, she is very realistic but with distinct features that are exaggerating more. For example, I put extra detail in the eyes and made them more prominent with size and color so that the viewer was drawed to them. I took specific reference from Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring” painting. Vermeer used inspiration from the Northern Renaissance painting techniques with I loved. The “Girl with the Pearl Earring” was also an oil painting so I could look at it and see his techniques that he used to paint her and read about his process and take that into account with mine.
My Painting
Artist Statement
Interpret
I wanted to communicate a mood of solemn, calm, and dignified. The analogous colors of green and blue, which are cool tones, I fee provides a solemn feel. Even the skin tone is very pale and not bright which still provides a cool and calm feeling. The look and posture of the model is what really provides a mood of dignified and solemn. Her eyes and facial expression are cold and expressionless. She feels like royalty with how composed she is with her composure and straight face.
This painting is of a Vogue Italia cover that really pulled my attention. There isn’t any symbolism or metaphors in my piece as it is more for aesthetics’ purposes and was just a photo that I loved so much that I wanted to paint it. I wanted my viewer to feel a sense of calmness but with perhaps a touch of uncomfortableness. Her stare is very cold which can be off putting, as if she is judging you. She looks like royalty and when I look into her eyes, I get a sense that she feels better than me. Personally, that is what I see but that could vary with the viewer.
Analysis
In my piece, I used color, value, space, balance, unity, contrast, and emphasis. I used color to communicate a mood of solemn and calm to the viewer by using softer tones of green, blue, and skin tone. The colors of blue and green, being analogous, contrast well against the colors of the skin tones, allowing the woman n the middle and the hands around her to be more present. The green color is found in many details in the piece, in the drinks, her eyes, and her clothes. Same with the blue, being in her eyeshadow, some of the rings, and the background. These both allow the piece to feel unified with the repeated showing of colors. I used value throughout the piece as well. I used value to suggest shadows in the background so that it wasn’t just a single colored background, allowing the piece to feel more real. I also used value to shade the hands for realism. I used negative space in the background with the tones of blue. I used balance by spreading the hands with the glasses out, two on each side, and with her in the middle. Her being in the middle brings attention to her which is great because she is meant to be the centerpiece of my painting. The hands with the glasses on the sides provided an extra element to make the piece more interesting but since they are on the side, it doesn’t pull from the lady. I feel balance is a strong element in my piece. I used unity with the colors, as I described earlier. The repeated use of the same shades of green and blue ties the piece together.
My Progress
Click the photos for a better look!
