With Spring right around the corner here in the northeast, and the ATP Tour ready to begin its hardcourt season out west at Indian Wells, thought I'd share a tennis player portrait with you.
I did this up from a reference photo I shot a few years back at a USTA mens futures event that a local tennis club hosts every summer. My zoom lens came in handy for this shot! Actually I think I was on the other side of a chain-link fence at the time. The intense concentration as he's ready to accept serve is what the subject really is here. I like cropping in nice and tight for compositions.
In any case, warm skin tones always pop nicely off of a cool background. Orange and blue are complements after all. I am learning to enjoy colored pencil work more and more but cannot ever see them replacing my love for the oil paints. This took me maybe an hour and a half.
Tune in next time for a first step of the next new painting I'll be releasing for 2011!
joe@joewinklerart.com
JoeWinklerArt.com
