Boy with Book
Sep 2020
306 x 406mm
Oil on canvas
This was my first oil painting, and at the time my largest painting ever. It was very exciting to discover how bold the colours could be and get to play with texture on a canvas. The source image this was based on was much more muted, which was beautiful in its own way. I chose to go more vibrant - bright yellows, red, blues in the boys clothing and his surroundings. The fact the image is roughly composed from the primary colours was possibly part of what drew me to it initially.
The boy himself is almost monochromatic by comparison to his surrounds - the source had a definite softness to it, and I really wanted the painting to focus that on him - make the surrounds shout at you while the subject of the painting almost seems to recede into the background.
I did eventually also find the actual model from the original photograph. Unfortunately, he couldn't dispel one mystery I'd have liked answered - He doesn't remember which book he was reading!