Turnabout

In 2011 I did an oil painting of a female nude. It was one of those paintings that progressed from start to finish with very little reworking. I thought at the time that any flaws were overshadowed by a raw power the picture possessed. But one of the hands always bothered me. At some point, without a model, I attempted a repair. Instead of making it better I made it worse. I'm embarrassed to post this but here it is.

"The Claw" (detail), 2011

Fixing this hand has been in my mental to do file for years. I am currently in the process of refining some small areas on a trompe loeil still life (see December 22, 2014 post). The skill set required for this tight work proved very helpful when having another go at the hand, this time with a model.

Repaired Hand, 2015, Perfect? No. Better? I think so.

When I was primarily doing still lifes I knew that working from the live figure benefited my overall technique. Now, having worked almost exclusively from the figure for over three years, working a still life is proving beneficial to my figurative work.