Les Hommes d'FIFA

Just finished this painting for a project revolving around "flat space". I wanted to emulate the flatness of traditional Japanese composition using an image taken from the 2006 World Cup (that's Michael Ballack rising up for the header).

Untitled, 90 x 120 cm
Oil paint on canvas
Painted October 2009

I wanted to take some risks and really push myself on this one and while I am glad that I did I definitely have a lot of issues with the final product. Things just did not go well right off the bat -- the canvas didn't stretch particularly tight; my initial sketch was plagued with horrible anatomy; etc. I wanted to employ a range of mark-making in this sort of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon composition but the whole thing just feels rushed and scrappy.