The Ford (George "Frolic" Weymouth)
 

Oil on linen, 36" x 48"

Here's the portrait I unveiled at the PSA conference last weekend. The PSA asked me to do it as part of the award given to George A. (Frolic") Weymouth, a landscape and portrait painter who also founded the Brandywine River Conservancy and Museum, and is the museum's present director. Mr. Weymouth received the award for Leadership in the Fine Arts.

I envisioned the portrait as really a figure in a landscape. As I explained at the PSA banquet, I wanted his figure to blend into the landscape, to become one with the environment, but also to emerge from the landscape just enough to be a focal point. The winter colors around Pennsylvania are very subtle, and Mr. Weymouth's clothing was very similar in color to the landscape.

This is lovely, Alex! Really lovely. The figure is so much a part of the landscape, as is the dog, and the figure is so alive and alert. The composition is so beautiful too because of the v-shape that goes horizontally into the imagined space of the picture, with the man looking outwards and the dog looking inwards. I have a lot more to say, but I only have a minute to write this. I will look and write more tomorrow morning.

Thank so much, Thomasin! I think I finally tweaked the photos so they look a little more accurate.

What an interesting concept and harmonius composition. The surface looks so lively without missing out on revealing the structure.
Beautiful
Ilaria

This is a wonderful painting, Alex. I'm so happy that the Society asked you to paint this and that it got such a warm reception. You are a hugely talented and productive artist.

I'm so proud to be your friend (and thanks for driving me around, I really owe you one).

This is a truly marvelous work, throughout.

The balance of focus between figure and ground, and the subtlety of it, is without parallel.

Just wonderful!

Alex - my addendum: I wanted to add that I also really enjoy the brushwork because of the lightness of touch and the consistency of it. The figures are so much a part of the landscape because of this consistency to be almost camouflaged, especially the dog. You also have captured the particular timbre of the coldness in the air and the particular speed of the wind too - making it a portrait (or likeness) of the landscape and weather as well as the figures.

Wonderful work, Alex !
I love the very well balanced composition, and I know it's not easy to do when you have to include a figure, a dog and a landscape ! You really mastered this challenge, the focal point is without doubt the figure and then the eye circulate with pleasure discovering the other elements. I also love the harmony of colors.

Congratulations - what an honor! I very much enjoyed hearing you describe your research, and your approach to executing this piece!

Ilaria, Linda, Tom, Thomasin, Marina and Chris--thank you! I really appreciate your kind words and your support.

Thomasin, I am interested to know you think I've described the weather. That is an unexpected factor, since I was concentrating on the colors and textures of the winter landscape. It was pure pleasure (in spite of the mud) painting the Pennsylvania woods in winter. I have been wanting to paint those colors and see if I could describe the structures of the trees and branches at different levels of distance.

It just so happened that the dog walked into a photo session and sat just like that, as if she were posing! I immediately realized her brindle coloring would work perfectly against the dead leaves in the setting, and that she provided a secondary focal point towards the right in the portrait. Fortuitous!

Just in case anyone is interested, I used a combination of sources: landscape painted on-site; head study from life, outside, in the same light; charcoal drawings of Mr. Weymouth from different directions; and digital photos of him and the setting.

Nice design, may better than another Georgr W:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_Delaware.png

Great work, Alex! The way you

SB, I've heard that the 17th century George Weymouth wasn't known for being nice. Fortunately the man I painted is just the opposite.

Carlos, thank you! I enjoy putting all the references together. Often my paintings develop that way. It would be great if you could get to the PSA conference some year--I know there are a lot of forum members from all over, including myself, who would like to meet you.

Alex:
A good example of symbolism.
If the dog weren't there, what would you have done for the design?

Charming
 

Alex, what a beautiful painting! I wish I could have attended the conference and met you all in person, seen the beautiful work on hand and listened to the presentations.

SB, I believe the dog was meant to be there! (So I can't contemplate what I would have done if it weren't there.)

NB, thank you so much! It's nice to see you on the forum once in a while. Glad you like the painting. You can come over and see it in person while it's still here. We can have a cup of tea, too.

Enzie, thanks very much, and I do hope you will get to the conference one of these years.

Alex,
What an interesting and arresting piece. i love the composition and the color balance between the scarf and the sky. I wish I could have heard your presentation, too. I also enjoy seeing your brushwork, it looks effortless...so lovely

Patty, thank you. I can't say the brushstrokes are effortless. I do think about them a lot. Sometimes they happen quickly, sometimes not. But I am glad they seem effortless and natural.

Alex,
I so like this painting. It's not just a portrait, but something more, it's a portrait of a place on earth that has become part of the person portrayed.

I admire how you have balanced the elements and integrated the figures of man and beast in the landscape paying equal attention to all, it's man in balance with nature, my favorite mantra.

Thank you so much, Allan!

I am so glad you feel this way! It is what I hoped to achieve and it means a lot that you notice these things.