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.

Monday, October 26, 2015

A Different League

All last summer I painted from a group of non-static and highly perishable subjects. The petals of magnolia blossoms opened as I worked. Leaves of the watermelon plants curled and faded before my eyes. Even the flesh of a sliced watermelon lasted at best two painting sessions. The urgency and directness required to capture these subjects closely mimicked working from a live model - or so I thought.

Nude Study, oil on canvas, 13" X 12", 2015

In reality my summers efforts weren't even in the same league of difficulty. The above image marks my first attempt at figure painting after a two month gap. The experience was by far my clearest realization confirming the value of figurative work. As a learning tool there is simply no substitute for the rigors of the live figure.


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