The drawing was one of the first and done quickly, a 'throw-away,' but some acrylic matte medium (Ester's tip, thanks!), and then oil paint, and she's become a landscape figure, or, bear with me, with hints of bones and layers of sediment, a geology of paint. The model in the lifedrawing class last week was a beautiful woman, a dancer, but sitting naked before a room of artists, sometimes she wanted to cover herself... I like the modesty here, it makes the figure in her nakedness through whom the landscape of paint moves more vulnerable.
(click for larger image)
Landscape Figure, 2006, india ink, acrylic matte medium, oil paint on archival paper, 13.5"x9".
Yes, the modesty comes across here,Brenda. And it does add to the vulnerability. And the colours work well - blue for rivers/veins .....
ReplyDeleteI like this very much.
It's hard to leave something 'unpolished,' practically 'unfinished,' still 'raw,' Mary, but I think it works in this little oil sketch. I'm on an XP now, and find the colours a little too saturated - my iMac at home doesn't do this - it's a little paler than it appears on a PC is what I mean. It's wonderful to have you drop by, and thank you...
ReplyDeleteI really like this painting of yours. It reminds me of how transparent and short our time in this human form really is. Like a blip in the infinity of time, have to enjoy it while we can! Very nice :)
ReplyDeleteshe does look so vulnerable, so naked in a way just "naked" does not. There's a great deal of power in the tension here. But I've always loved your art.
ReplyDeleteGotta get reading again... I'm so behind on everything...
Ester, that's a thought-provoking comment, the "transparency of time," and I really like it!
ReplyDeleteYes, Narrator, I'm surprised that I actually like her - she looks forlorn, somehow, yet also integrated into the landscape that I thought of an ecology of being when I finished the little painting. Or is it consciousness, awareness of the "transparency of time" that marks her expression and sets her apart from her surroundings...? Good to have you back, btw-
'Unpolished'...hence, fresh and vital.
ReplyDeleteFabulous. She looks away, yet she is one with the landscape. No matter what she tries to cover up, she is already integrated with her surroundings: exposed and transparent to them. A mild but pervasive tension, underscored by her meditative (rather than agitated) expression.
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