The next step

I have worked from the live nude periodically since the early 1970's. This blog started August 9th, 2012 in my second year of working almost exclusively from the figure.

In the fall of 2015 I reintroduced still lifes and an occasional cityscape into my painting repertoire. Rather than abandon this figure blog or start a new one I decided to add them to the conservation.

All drawings and paintings posted on this blog were done entirely from live models or on location.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

The Wave

Latching onto an exciting project is to a painter what catching a good wave is to a surfer. It grabs you and takes you along for the ride. The power of the wave, not you, is in control. One has to remain alert and focused to stay in the sweet spot and maximize the ride. Get too far out in front and the wave will crush you. Fall back and you will watch the crest roll away without you.

Watermelons VII, oil on canvas, 26" X 30", 2015

This is the completed painting featured in my post of September 25. Work on it encompassed nearly a month. The perishable properties of the subject required both brief and extended painting surges.

On a long term painting the initial swell of energy almost certainly won't carry you to the finish line. But if you can draw on the early excitement of the first wave it can serve as inspiration and nourishment to bring a work to completion.


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