Telling a Story Exercise 9

I decided to shuffle around various photos of figures in different poses - pics collected from magazines etc. Not having cut and pasted magazine images for any composition before, it was a bit of a challenge, but also an enjoyable novelty.

The number of figures kept on increasing. I eventually cut them down to a manageable number but still ended up with at least three different photos, and I invented some of  the background. The stance and expression of one particular large figure made me think of disagreement even confrontation, so I  used red as a ground colour. Something about it made me think of Egon Schiele's  colour choices - these of course are in keeping with turmoil and upset, which I get the impression was certainly running close to the surface in many of his paintings. The rest of the scheme included greens, dark umbers and blues (almost black) and red tinged flesh colours, again I thought, redolent of Schiele's colour choices.
I would say if the colours seem to jar with one another in places, it has had the desired effect.
After several sketches and colour studies (including and alternative much calmer looking scene) I made a start on the painting with the help of multiple references.

At first I had problems with the paint sinking into the canvas, even though I'd applied two coats of gesso and an undercoat of acrylic. But it was the reverse of the side I would normally use. After the first layer the paint was a little easier to apply. It was hours before I was reasonably happy that the the facial details of the two most prominent figures looked convincing enough. The number of figures increased from two to three to five during the preparatory stages. I was thinking about the possible dialogue taking place between them, the posturing and the facial expressions are what fascinated me most of all.

colour study

colour study

Again I was conscious of trying to obtain an effect similar to Diebenkorn's paint application on and around his figures, but yet again, I couldn't manage to pull it off.
The background didn't gel initially, despite my efforts to keep it simple so as not to distract from the interaction of the figures. The centre area looked too busy , I think as it wasn't adequately blended and the tones didn't balance. Hopefully now it has been softened and the floor darkened the balance is working. At least now it doesn't seem to be fighting for attention, while it has the ability of suggestion and to become part of the narrative, which when also taking into consideration the figures, could be interpreted in several ways. The green and blue tones complement the red ground where it shows through, so that is intended to enhance the tense confrontational mood.

finished painting

Now it's completed I see aspects of the colour study on the red ground which I prefer to the finished painting such as the immediacy of the brushwork and more ground colour showing through. Although some things are out of proportion ie. the head of the figure facing out in the right foreground is too small.