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Peter
Theoretically you are right about the fountain. When I was painting the fountain the same thing you stated came to my mind. Why put something with so much action in the background and especially at the edge of the painting? I loved the way the fountain looked and I could not resist painting it. I felt the background would be too monotonous without it. It works, because there is so much going on in the painting that the fountain is not too distracting when seeing the painting in person.
I also thought of painting only some of the figures but the purpose of doing the large painting was the challenge of composition, color, values, and drawing with many figures. Besides, the lady standing in the back is the teacher. They work as a team and I wanted to include all of them. Out of the two dozen or so pictures I took, the lady with the smile always had her smile in all but one or two of the pictures. The teeth showing is what helps identify that person. When I found out they and their families were all interested in seeing the painting, I went back and tried to get as close a likeness as I could on all the figures.
Viewing this painting for someone else, I probably would have stated pretty much the same things you stated.
Thank you for your input.
Daniel
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