Black Earring

Sometimes the most interesting thing about a portrait is not the likeness of a face but the way lines and shapes are organized to make that likeness. For the most part I think, I hope, I achieved a likeness of the model in this painting... but more importantly the question is, "Is it interesting to look at?" This is a constant challenge to artists, me included. My attempt at interestingness (not a word, I know) for this piece was to get down on the canvas a sort of lyrical rhythm I saw on the model, a swoop of the hair down to the ear, a line carried over into the half circle of the hair clip, a dark shape on the back of the neck blending into the scarf carrying a line of movement down and away from the face...

Black Earring 
10x12 inches - Oil on linen 
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