Piano Man acrylic portrait street performer


Piano Man 
18"x14"
Acrylic
Here is the next in the performers series.  Well I think I am finally done fighting with this piece.  I want to thank Diane who told me I couldn't start over and had to figure out how to try to salvage it.  Going to show the stages I went through because originally I fell back to what I always try to do, be  more realistic.   I just didn't have a clear plan for this one and just kept adding and changing on the fly.   Hope at the end though I finally got it right.  The biggest struggle with this one was trying to get movement and some life into the picture.  The piano and player are pretty stagnant, so I decided to add the dog.  Believe it or not I think putting the water bottle in on top of the knapsack also helped.  

Here is where I started out, was going similar to the reference photo putting him in the park outside with lots of people walking by.  But boy I sure didn't like where it was going and felt it was way to dark.  Also, even roughing in the fountain, I just couldn't see how I was going to get life and movement into this painting.  The people were going to just be marks and dabs and would make it crowded, but not necessarily show movement.

So I decided I would white wash over it, letting some of the greens show through.  I thought that splotchy effect might add some movement as well.  I wanted to try the whitewash technique for another picture I have cooking in my brain and I figured I didn't have anything to lose at this point.  So that is pretty much what I did, used a palette knife with very thin paint to put mostly white and ivory colors over the top of the greens.  Once I determined where I wanted the bottom of the wall I popped in the burnt sienna to give some solidity.
 Since I had blurred over my original subject, I need to sharpen it up again and also I added non-traditional colors and highlights to the piano, just for fun.  Like I said I added the dog, because we see them as usually moving.   Then I just put in the random words and keyboard, again with colors to try to move the eye around the picture.  I added the column because I wanted to keep the eyes in the picture.

thanks much for taking a look and stopping by.

Comments

laurelle said…
Wow, Nelvia! I love the narrative in this one. The piano man himself is already interesting, but to put the intricate wall graffiti and lovely touch of the dog with his paw on musician's leg, almost as if he is appreciating his companion's tunes...really, really nice. Kudos to you for your exciting and interesting body of artwork for the challenge. I will be following you and staying in touch!
October 1, 2017 at 9:22 AM
Sheila said…
I love the pose of the dog, his paw and looking up. Makes for a very soulful connection. Everything about this is wonderful. And I really enjoyed the tour of your process :) Love the textures!
Congratulations on a beautiful month Nelvia! :)
October 1, 2017 at 3:42 PM
Joan Tavolott said…
Thanks so much for showing us your thought process in this. I think you worked it out well!!!
October 1, 2017 at 8:25 PM
Mellowood Gallery said…
This was a tough one but you did a great job on it Nelvia. There are a couple of 'public' pianos in Creston for anyone who want to stop and play and I always think it would be neat to see some of these performers. Thanks for sharing your visions.
October 2, 2017 at 12:17 PM
Jane said…
Look at that body language, I can clearly hear him sing ,gorgeous work, actually the whole painting sings !!
October 3, 2017 at 7:12 AM
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