Elegant Repose

Mixed media on wood panel, 8” x 8”, 200 USD

Many artists like to work with horizontal spaces or panels. That’s always been a difficult composition for me—trying to figure out where you want the viewer’s eye to land, and creating both the content and color relationships between the bands. I painted the horizontal panels first, and then it sat for quite a while until one day I came across my reclining lady. After several attempts, I found a suitable head wearing an elaborate hat. Dominating the foreground, her gaze is mirrored in the opposite direction by the man in the upper band.