After my last blog post on my work in progress, I have finally completed my latest oil painting. This took a lot of time and dedication, but I am proud of the outcome and happy to say that it was very successful.

I made this piece for my girlfriend’s 21st birthday and my goal was to create a piece that looked unfinished in an appealing way. I wanted to create focus primarily on the left side of the face as well as the stark graphic nature of the flowers in contrast to the more rendered background and face. I included a white border to create the illusion of a frame to show the viewer looking into the piece. I also explicitly left the other half of the face undefined and in shadow because I wanted to allow one part to shine over the other and thought it would be more notable rather than showing the entire face to the viewer. This allowed for deeper implications, as well as provide a more engaging viewing experience as the shapes of light and dark interact with each other.

Overall, I am satisfied with the work I put in and how it came out. Usually I don’t work on a large scale, so since this was around 30 x 30 inches it was much more involved than the quick projects I am used to. After finishing however, I will say I am very eager to work on another large scale piece in the close future.