A piece I ruined. An experiment with Eastern Arabic numerals
 

Arabic numerals are the 10 digits (0,*1,*2,*3,*4,*5,*6,*7,*8,*9) they were transmitted to europe in the middle ages, by Arabs in North Africa and the Middle east, It spread around the world through european trading.
the*Eastern Arabic numerals*(٠‎ -*١‎ -*٢‎ -*٣‎ -*٤‎ -*٥‎ -*٦‎ -*٧‎ -*٨‎ -*٩‎)* are the numerals used in the Middle East today. And those are the numerals I used in this painting.

The Idea was to combine a realistic portrait with these numbers, using them as symbols of mathimatical beauty & precision that exist in everything around us.

Because this is an oil portrait, I'm posting It here, but in order for you to see what was in my head I'll be posting a couple of tiny 5x8cm scribbles I did in pencil along with progress pics.

the idea was not complete...I needed to experiment more. But I didnt get the chance....I started it on the 25th of january 2011.

I would either try and fix it or paint another. Feedback would be nice.

Right before I ruined it
 

This was what it last looked like before i had to repaint it.

The woman is beautifully painted. I leave it for the artists to find where you can improve or not.

Competition
 

I think the background is stealing the show. I find myself having to force my eye back to the woman.

That portrait is gorgeous. And, I agree the background is stealing the show.

Why don't you use this piece as a test to see how to handle the background. Use different treatments/colors and see which one looks best. I think you might try glazing and scumbling lighter colors over those deep saturated colors to push them back.

I think the problem with the numerals is that you're going for mathematical beauty and precision but they're not painted precisely. You almost need templates or something. Get them razor sharp. THEN push them back.

I agree with Cindy that glazing a mid tone neutral over the background shapes would help unify the painting and bring the focus back to the figure. Nicely done figure, though!

Agree with the above comments - portrait is looking great but the background is over-powering it. It's visually distracting, but in addition I think it works against your concept to have the numerals so obvious. It seems to me that mathematical structures that underlie the beauty of nature do not reveal themselves to us until we look for them, and then we see them everywhere. Or perhaps they fleetingly come into view and then disappear again. This is just a thought, but maybe there's a way you could use varnishes with different levels of gloss to paint the numerals over a more monochromatic background, so that depending on the position of the viewer, they would glint into view in the light and then disappear again.

Redesign
 

Cynthia, Steven, Cindy, Michele, Lewis,
Thank you all for the great feedback,
It took me a while to answer, I was depressed for a week had a freak out episode,
Acted like a little girl, a nice person helped me out, it was a mess...
I'm just kidding.

Yes, the background is distracting, probably due to the fact that I stopped working on the figure and focused exclusively on it. I didnt have a clear clue what to think about the design so I kept working on it, It seems I lost sight of it along the way. I wanted those colors to show and be very prominant but also find a way to get my eye on the figure 1st then the background, Correct me please if I'm wrong but what If I used different colors that are much more brighter than the ones in the background, wouldn't that get my eye to focus on the portrait 1st? Balance things out maybe? The reason why I reworked the portrait is that it didnt feel like it was lit by the sun...at least thats what I felt, and I was thinking that if the figure in the white dress was lit by sunlight it would capture my gaze. It would be great to know your thoughts about it.

Cindy, I'll definitely try that after all I am going to repaint the whole thing on a new canvas so using this as a test piece is a great idea I also agree that the numbers are problematic.

Due to the size of the picture (20.5x30.5cm) I had to eyeball them. I already had them designed with special proportions on small thumbnails i made, I wanted them to be precise but i also wanted them to be Imperfect...everything around us including ourselves are mathamatically perfect but its the Imperfections that makes it all beautiful.

So I based my dimentions on Fibonacci sequence. In a thumbnail I'll be posting here to illustrate my thinking, I drew the a triangle I rotated 3 times around its center (dimentions 3x5cm). I was trying to design a motif.

I definitely need to be more precise while painting them to be how i imagined them to be.

Lewis,
Dude i never thougth of it that way, you gave me a great idea to think about while I'm repainting this.
And yes I wanted them to show...I wanted this piece to show those hidden structures because once you see them everywhere you'd have a deep appreciation of its overall design, its complexity and at the same time its simplicity.

Probably, It seems so simple because it's hidden from our gaze.....

I think i was unable to fully show that in this piece...but hopefully once I redesign it it would be better.

I don't see how it could. With brighter colors, probably what would happen is that the eye would go first to the bright colors, then to the figure to rest their eyes. Then back to the bright colors. We can't help but look at them first.

I really like Lewis's suggestion - tone on tone. You could even do gold leaf for the numerals (but that's really expensive.)

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 :)

I second everyone's words here, I prefer that beautiful portrait with a simple background.

I'm a little late to this one but I wanted to say that the reason your grandfather's works so well--even better, in my opinion, than the one from the modern art gallery, is that the figure is not only a strong color but a LARGE, strong color. It is also separated from the small strong colors by a halo around her head which helps to focus the eye. In the case of your portrait, if you want to keep the background brighter in honor of your grandfather's style, then my suggestion is this:

Where the figure is so realistic, make sure the background is crisp (as was suggested before). Also, make sure the background colors are very close in hue and value to each other. For example, an orangey pink and a reddish pink both of the same value. Then, if possible, reserve the darkest and/or lightest values for the figure. I would also be sure to add some reflected bright colors onto the skin of the figure or it will look forced onto a fake background. A matching halo of similar shapes but slightly different values, like your grandfather's, might not be a bad idea, either.

Just my two cents. And given inflation, it might only be worth .000000002 cents.

:)
 

Sorry I I'm late :)

Claudemir,

Hello and thank you for your comment :)
I'd like to think that my best work is ahead of me, simple is great & at times it's enough, but at other times it's just not enough to settle with. Painting is about problem solving and it's a constant search, I have to get into trouble to come up with something satisfying.

Natalie,

Hi, Thank you for your 2 cents, I live in the 19th century so thier value might be higher than you actually think.
I've been analyzing that portrait for a long time, 1st glance It looks complex but it's execution is actually very simple...the value in between the white letters on the dress, halo and the dark letters for her hair, is the canvas itself no color.

In the case of mine I tried to avoid the halo I thought her vail would help frame the portrait instead, I'll rethink that. Also, the issue of painting her dress realistically or painting it as numbers, because I wanted to unify the painting I didnt want her to look forced onto the background.

I'm repainting it now, your suggestions have been very helpful thank you :)