Use of borders and type in portraits

[Joan Breckwoldt]

This is a topic that was inspired by a recent portrait by Andrea Kantrowitz found at this thread:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...thread+mitzvah

It's a beautiful bar mitzvah portrait in which Andrea has incorporated a border around the portrait. It was actually Chris Saper's idea to start a thread on borders. There was also mention in Andrea's thread about some of the lettering that Karin Wells uses in her portraits.

I thought it would be informative for us to post some examples or opinions of using borders around a portrait and/or using type on a portrait. I personally find the idea of borders and type intriguing.

Thanks,

Joan

[Chris Saper]

Hi Joan,

Thanks for starting the thread. I am very intrigued with the compositional notion of borders. This painting , 'Hibiscus" (oil, 12" x 16") is one of a series called "Western Faces/American Places", which I have painted for the upcoming Phippen Museum Show in Prescott AZ, Memorial Day Weekend.

The background is an invented Indian trade blanket design. By placing the border at the left, I could move the figure to the right, respecting the "sight-line" direction established by the gaze, and accomplish two things: stop the eye, and direct it back into the canvas by placing arrow-like patterns in the border. At first I had painted the background with a lot more precision, but it fought the overall nature of the painting, so I did a little, as they say, deconstruction. I worked with all of the reds quite a bit to place them on different visual planes.

[Linda Nelson]

Great Topic - I'd love to see what people have done -

I painted this a couple of years ago for myself. It a 37" x 54" oil portrait of my son when he was three. At the time he loved to play ball with me on the stairs, and would often lay down to watch the ball go down. It was such a fun private moment for us.

I love typography but find it's a real tough job to incorporate it successfully into a painting . In this painting use script text to depict his world at the time - things he liked and would say at that period of his life. To keep the text as a secondary component of the painting, the text is painted darker or lighter so as to keep the same relative contrast to the background around the whole thing. Also the script face gives it a border design feel before you notice it's words, plus the typeface looks like a mothers writing.

I'm working on another personal piece that has type in it, but I've stopped for over a year now on it, because I haven't solved some problems on it. Using type is a challenge, but I have a million ideas in my head and I don't want to give up on the challenge.

I love how Chris Saper's idea works as a border and play on 2D 3D because of it. I have never been successful at that yet.

Linda

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Dear Chris,

What a wonderful use of a background and border together. And of course the skintones on your subject are beautiful. I have just spent the last couple of hours with your book trying to figure out where I went wrong on my latest attempt which is posted in WIP. Actually, I painted the face today and I'll post it tomorrow when there is some daylight, it's almost 11:00 p.m. now and time for me to take a break from the difficult subject of skintones!

Dear Linda,

Having a young son myself I really love your painting, what a clever idea. I was actually looking at your homepage 2 nights ago and came across that painting and I did wonder how you painted that type? I have plans (always plans) to paint some type on the wall in our den and thought about somehow projecting the type onto the wall. I would be curious to know how you painted that type. I love type too! I used to be a graphic designer and love all kinds of paper, pens, etc., there's nothing like a stationery store!

What awesome examples you have both posted, thank you! I hope we see more. The caliber of artwork on this forum is so high.

Joan

[Linda Brandon]

Here are two early examples of lettering on paintings:

Richard 111, Oil on panel
Unknown artist, inscribed 16th century

and

Mary Throckmorton, Oil on panel
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1614

[Linda Brandon]

I'll enlarge the lettering below (when I post these, the attachments refuse to reverse themselves in correct order, sorry about that). The Richard 111 painting combines a top scroll border with lettering:

[Carol Morimoto]

Dear Linda:

The border type examples are beautiful. I too am very interested in learning additional details about how these are done. For example, are they hand drawn, do you project the text, create stencils, use transfer paper, or is there some other magic you have to share with us?

Thanks from a new member who is anxious to learn.

Carol Morimoto

[Linda Nelson]

To get the type on the painting I -

completed the painting without the type, then photographed the painting with my digital camera and downloaded the image into photoshop. I sized the image to fit the actual size of the painting. From there I wrote the type in sections ( each phrase separately) then arranged them around the painting for a general fit. Then I started experimenting with which type face I liked the best, as well as size and kerning, etc. I also played with the value to get an idea of how pronounced the type will be. Since I was working in the actual size of the painting, the type sizes were huge. When I had it all established, I printed out the copy in sections in simple black text on white paper. I used these to then arrange for real the type on the painting, taping the paper to the canvas. I used this step to rearrange the phrases on the canvas still, since the impression you get on the computer screen is different from when it's "for real". (If you do this, also keep in mind how much canvas will be covered by the eventual frame, as that will affect the type feeling too cramped or not next to it). Using carbon paper I traced the type onto the canvas. From there it's just a matter of painting the type as you want it, and in my case I varied each phrase in similar values or blue grays and brown grays, and as I mentioned, lightened or darkened the type to keep a value relation to the changing background the same.
It was pretty simple to do. Hope this helps!

[Carol Morimoto]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. It was a huge help and I look forward to employing your method. In the past, I have played with using text on some paintings, but never with the professional result you have obtained. With your advice, I'm sure I'll do better in the future.

Carol

[Linda Brandon]

Here are two beautiful examples of borders, posted here by permission of SOG artist Paul McCormack: