Using varnish was a technique I used in my ad agency many years ago for a few clients. A patch of flat black, overlaid with the "illustration" in varnish. It looked great . . . a glossy black image that appeared to have depth against the flat, almost gray looking black field. But, done right, it's quite striking and may again fight for dominance with the portrait It may be simple minded of me, but I try to keep my backgrounds subdued, grayed down and as simple as possible. I studied with Daniel Greene twice, and something he said over and over was, never pass up an opportunity to simplify.

Cindy, Richard,

Thank you for your replies they were quite helpful.

Richard, sir, it is not simple minded of you at all. But its me that wants to push things as far as they can go and beyond if i can in order to reach a simple execution. Sometimes along the way I overthink it :) as long as I learn from it, it's ok.

Cindy, you're thinking Klimt? Yes I'm a fan :)...
& that would be expensive, and what I wish to do would pretty much upset quite a few bank gaurds.

When I chose white red yellow and blue I had color theory in mind... Light...

I think I missed something and I'll be going back to find a much simpler way than the one i took on this one...Thanks to all of you, now I know where I went wrong.

Successful Example
 

Hi -

I like the idea. Here is a link to one that seems to work, probably because the background colors are grayed down a bit: http://www.high.org/Art/Permanent-Co...eptName=Modern and Contemporary Art&objNum=2010.8&pageNumber=1

hmm, seems to not link properly.

The piece is at the High Museum in Atlanta, can be seen at www.high.org in the permanent collection, modern art. Artist name is Kehinde Wiley.

Here's the link, Julie:
http://www.high.org/Art/Permanent-Co...8&pageNumber=1

This does work - I think maybe because even though the background is highly chromatic, it's also limited to two colors.

Also, because the pattern is so repetitive, I think that allows you to see it once, then ignore it while you look at the figure (which is also highly chromatic)

I agree, also, the pink/red in the foreground is more intense than that of the background, so it helps to push the background colors back.

In the Family
 

Julie, Cindy,

Thank you both so much :)

That was an interesting website julie thank you. :)

I feel that I have to explain a few things in particular about this particular style.

When I said I overthought this painting, I meant the way I layed it all out. How I brought it all together, there were unnecessary and intricate element/color placements I shouldn't have done, but there are also other placements I would like to keep..thus redesigning the layout was the answer to a part of my problem, but not the final solution.

My Grandfather was not a realist, he had a unique style which he developed over 50 years ago with arabic calligraphy, his paintings had a different life to them that I can't explain with words. His paintings inspired me to paint this one in the 1st place, I wanted to start from where he left off and develop it further.

This is a portrait he painted of his daughter (my aunt) dated 1973.

Nice calligraphic style for both type and art.

Thank you Julie glad you like it :)