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OIL BRAZIL
DEMONSTRATION

Theo Felizzola

Establishing the Framework

Prior planning and calculated compositions allow
Theo Felizzola the freedom to paint his original concepts

n this article, I will describe the process is all we have, and as a painter, I felt lucky More often than not, for large-scale
Iof painting a portrait from a photograph. to work with that beautiful fraction of it, paintings especially, I utilize a grid created
The project was commissioned by a collector captured by a camera. from thirds, halves and main diagonals of
of my work, and the subject is a longtime You will notice relevant distortions the rectangle. For a classical approach where
friend of his. The picture was taken a week of background design by comparing the the subject is looking back at the viewer,
before Leonardo, the man depicted, passed reference photo and the final painting. I place the dominant eye in the horizontal
away. It reveals an elder gentleman in his I have removed the corner from the room, center of the canvas. Before printing the
home, with the powerful stare of someone distorting the perspective. I did that to photo to use as reference, I work it in
who feels the preciousness of time. increase the impact of the background Photoshop to create a pleasing cropping for
When working on a portrait, I try to pictures in the composition. Also, in doing the image. Looking for interesting negative
understand which elements might bring that, all of the background is actually behind shapes and linear coincidences, I make sure
deeper meaning beyond physical likeness. Leonardo, with which I attempt to reinforce the image has a nice range of dark versus
For this painting, I focused on the idea the time past symbolism and the sense that light, complex versus simple, large versus
of passage of time, since he was at home somehow he stands between us and his past, small. Once that’s settled, I roughly calculate
surrounded by old photos of family. Time as if he’s protecting it. a canvas size where the composition presents

Far Left: Red Coat,
oil on canvas,
60 x 45 cm (24 x 18")
This is a colorful
outdoors scene. I had
a lot of fun with the
leaves and textures
in general. It was
interesting to play
with the temperature
changes between
light and shadow.
Left: Roses, oil on
canvas, 38 x 25 cm
(15 x 10")
An in-class demo
of an alla prima
painting. A small
figure painted in
about 3½ hours.
I talked about value,
composition and light
intensity.

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