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Frank Bingley

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Posted
Whenever I paint a portrait, there's always a quandary about the background. I usually opt for what I see or make something simple up, even if it's a simple graduated tone.  This work (Jannina Ramirez) is just an exercise using gouache and the background in the photo is fairly blurred. How would any of you out there tackle this?

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by Frank Bingley

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Marjorie Firth

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Entirely differently to you Frank, ha ha, so I'd love to put forward some ideas but they'd work for me but not for you. I think that using gouache wouldn't work with my method, which would be in oils and I'd put in the basic shapes, no details, and then start the background, laying dark against light and vversa. I'd also " cut into" the portrait here and there and " cut into" the background so that it wouldn't look as tho' the head was superimposed. I don't think you could use gouache that way, it might disturb the layers. Maybe you can, with care. The one thing which both of us, using different media, could do, is echo the colours of the portrait in the background, the reds and the blues etc. Perhaps just suggest the background. Hope to see what you decide.

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by Marjorie Firth

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Linda Wilson

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I would put her in a hot environment like Egypt - So the background would be Sandy and warm, with vague indications of either pyramids or pillars.  Perhaps look at David Roberts’s paintings to get ideas.  ( I think he has been dead for over 70 years so no longer covered by copyright.)
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Lewis Cooper

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Posted
Looking good Frank.  You've caught the sunlit aspect of the portrait really well, so maybe Linda's idea of somewhere hot would suit.  Anything rather than the background in the photo. (When I do something like this the background ends up as an abstracty hotchpotch of colour...at least the nearest I ever get to abstract.)

Frank Bingley

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Posted
Thanks Marjorie, Linda and Lewis for your comments. I like the idea of your hot environment Linda, the picture is set in the Mediterranean, so could work.