Winter Figure Paintings
Here are some of the paintings I did over the winter break. I’m loving this dripping technique I’m doing and I’m excited about the potential for experimentation.
My theme with these paintings is the idea of impermanence that I talked about in the Painting Paradoxes post. I love the tension between then beautiful, physical, presence of the figure, the assertion that the figure is a product of history and yet the impermanence and fleeting nature of flesh. This painting I’m calling Impermanence and is 40″x30″. I feel it is especially successful because of the strategic deconstruction of the body allowing the background to show through. Also the ‘frame’ that makes up the breasts and face by using lighter colors allows the rest of the body to recede a bit.
I look forward to doing more paintings in this style.
The following painting is the same model, same pose, just a portrait format instead. It is also 40″x30″
This painting developed into an Adam and Eve narrative. I’m calling it “Fruit Stained” This piece is 48″x60″
This is the final painting – The model did two poses, one from which I took the reference for the feet and then the other I took the reference for the hand. I particularly like the use of color and just the fine tuning of some of my dripping technique. Compositionally, I love the repetition of the fingers and then toes as they form an arc. To me the visual “chord” of the fingers and toes needed resolution and so I added in the physical balance of the blue orb along with the color balance of a cooler tone.
Some of these paintings will appear in the Barbados and Washington exhibitions.
Figure drawing/painting in Dallas
The purpose of this post is to start an initial inquiry into what the demand would be for a non-instructed figure drawing/painting session in Dallas. I am anticipating the canvas stretching business to slow down a bit over the summer and so starting in the spring I may open my studio a couple days a week for people to come in and work.
Here are a couple advantages to working in an environment like this:
- Flexibility. You don’t have to commit to a semester of classes and you can come and go when you need to.
- Creativity. You have the opportunity to experiment without the academic pressures
- Convenience. We would most likely set up in the evenings so you could swing by after work.
- Cost effectiveness. It can get expensive hiring a model, so we would all share the cost of the model. Sessions may start at $15 for a 3 hour session.
- Camaraderie. You have the opportunity to engage with other artists in the original context of a non academic creative community.
- Improvement. While you don’t have to take constructive criticism, you will be among a group of people who are interested in portraying the figure and have struggled with some of the same things you are. You will undoubtedly be able to integrate some of their ideas into your work and improve.
So, if you are in the Dallas area and would be interested in coming to my studio for figure painting/drawing sessions, contact me or leave a comment. I’d love your input on how to better tailor the time to your needs. Also, if you have never taken a figure drawing or painting class, this may be a great opportunity to get your feet wet before committing to a great time commitment like a class.
Painting paradoxes
I get the question every so often about why I paint people. I feel that the figure is such an important element of our reality that it has to be approached with a certain theological and philosophical seriousness. The question is, what does it mean to portray the figure? Different traditions portray the body for different reasons and to different ends. Some traditions depict the body as a way of mastering the body. To portray the body with technical excellence is to dominate the body. Others intend to portray the unseen or spiritual aspects of the body. This is an assertion that the body is more than what we see. Here is my approach.
The body, along with several other topics is one of the paradoxes of Christianity. These paradoxes are not contradictory, but rich, deep, and available to probe. The body represents, on the one hand, a designed physical presence that is fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. To portray the body is a physical statement and a historical assertion that this body is *here*, and subsequently *you* are here to view it. Therefore, the statement of the physical is an empowering and beautiful reaction to the figure’s presence.
On the other hand, the body was created to die. We know that our physical bodies are impermanent and that when we look in a mirror we see ourselves dimly. Our soul is contained by the body to be revealed only after the body has expired.
To portray the figure then is to portray the tension between the physical presence and the cosmological impermanence of the body. This tension is beautiful to me and it’s something that I hope you’ll note as I show my new work!
Figure Study
Here is a painting I did that I am particularly pleased with. It is inspired by Hung Liu’s work. It is oil on canvas and I used turpenoid to achieve the dripping effect.
There are a few things that makes this work for me. The pose is an unusual vantage point and accentuates the foreshortening. The colors used on the body are clean and blend subtly into the next color. The background contrasts with the body nicely and the bit of white pulls the eyes towards the middle. I look forward to experimenting more with this style.
