Matching composition to the setting?

[Julie Deane]

I'm about to start two oils of children in an outdoor setting. The paintings are going to hang in an entryway over stairs, and pretty high
over the viewers' heads.

My question is this: should my vantage point in the portraits also be from a lower position looking up? My thinking is that it would look more natural in that setting.

I did a group portrait a while ago, in which one child was at a lower level looking up, but the portrait hung above the fireplace. I didn't think the position looked natural in the setting it was placed.

What do you think about vantage point in the painting compared to where the painting will be seen by viewers?

[Jean Kelly]

When I was making very large wall hangings (painted quilts), I planned and drew them using three point perspective and always drew to scale. Some of my works were fourteen feet high, and were hung ten to twenty feet up. This made for some very interesting math problems.

I don't know if I would even attempt that kind of problem with a painting. The process is so different between the two types of art. You may want to check with someone who does murals on a large scale.

Jean

[Alexandra Tyng]

Julie,

I have two thoughts about this:

1) A work of art should be inspired by the subject and is created in a way that remains true to the inspiration.

2) An artist, when doing a commissioned work, should consider the client's preferences and the intended setting.

These factors can easily be conflicting, but by taking the demands of the program into consideration while you are contemplating the concept, this conflict can usually be resolved somehow.

To be more specific, I would certainly avoid a high vantage point, i.e. looking down on the children. But on the other hand, I wouldn't lie on the floor to look up at them on the sofa, for instance! If there is a natural low vantage point, i.e. on the ground looking up at the kids in a tree or on a low wall, that might fit the bill.

What I'd really like to know is: WHY DO PEOPLE PICK SUCH CRAZY PLACES TO HANG ART?

[Alexandra Tyng]

P.S. I just though of another one: you on the ground level looking up at the kids sitting or standing on steps. I'm sure there are many of these possibilities.

[Julie Deane]

Thanks, Alex and Jean.

I wasn't thinking of doing anything too unusual or complicated. More along the lines of a somewhat lower perspective than head-on. Like you mentioned, Alex.

This subject just got me thinking about a painting I saw years ago at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. The docent said that it had been designed with a visual perspective to be seen "correctly" from an angle. Apparently, it was placed in a certain corner of an alcove in a church, and could only be seen from one direction. So the perspective had to be altered so that it would read right.

Those artists from generations before had some pretty sophisticated thinking!

[Michele Rushworth]

The paintings may not always be in that location. I think an eye-level or very slightly below eye-level viewpoint would be a good idea, so they look good now and in the future if they're ever hung in lower setting.