I try to chose topics for this blog that are of wide-ranging, general interest, and to avoid making it all about my own paintings. That said, it's been a while since I showed you the latest things off my easel, so I'd like to remedy that lapse. Recently, I've been working on a series that features the human figure AND the drape of textiles.
Sometimes I don't know which is the greater challenge: getting the figure to be believable, or getting the drape of the fabric to be believable. When both elements come together, it is definitely a "Eureka" moment. To quote Kent Nerborn: "[E]ach stroke on the canvas is, in the moment of its making, a great affirmation, a great and courageous 'Yes!'. It is you taking a leap of faith and saying, 'Of all the choices I could have made, I chose you." I might add that it takes many leaps of faith to make a painting!
I am not a student of anatomy, and I don't strive to make these figures perfectly "accurate" in terms of musculature and skeletal formation. Instead, my focus is on how the light creates shapes of shadow, and how the model's flesh tones vary from warm to cool, and from light to dark. Using this approach, the figures become somewhat abstracted. In fact, I love the process of abstracting slightly from reality, so that the viewer's imagination is brought into play.
Some of these paintings are on their way to Huff Harrington Fine Art in Atlanta, others are available in my studio. I hope you will enjoy taking a look.
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