Figurative Painting, Ballet, and... Photoshop

Thanks to a client who is interested in ballet, I have several new paintings of classical ballerinas in the works! This is especially exciting for me, since I have been wanting to expand my figurative portfolio and study the human form more carefully. Recently, I was humbled when another artist pointed out that one of my pieces had some anatomical errors. I realized that the human figure is truly the most challenging, yet exciting, thing to paint, and that I need to study it diligently in order to avoid such errors in future paintings. If I am going to do it justice, I must know how each body part moves, connects, and relates to the rest of the whole.

I began some "research" a couple of weeks ago when my sister and I went to see a ballet, and I realized I hadn't been to one since college. Back then, I don't think I had the appreciation for the human body that I have now. It is incredible how many ways the body can twist and turn and move in space, and it is also incredible to see what kinds of things the body is actually capable of! I was blown away by the grace and beauty these dancers were able to convey while doing moves that required a great deal of physical strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance.

Then, by a wonderful twist of fate, my weekly painting group lined up the perfect model to pose in a formal tutu and pointe shoes! She held a tough standing pose for us, and I was able to begin two paintings from it, both of which have great promise. The first is a full-length, 3/4-view composition, and the second is from the back and closer-up, detailing the model's beautiful shoulders and arms. The first painting is still in the works, but I just finished the second one, which you see below:

"Ballerina with Venetian Mask" - 18x12 - oil on linen

I should probably mention something about the mask... she wasn't originally holding anything when I began this painting from life. When I took the painting home after the session, I was pretty happy with it, but I felt like it needed something more. So I dug through a bunch of my photos from Europe, and happened to find this:



As you can see, I circled the mask I ended up using in the painting. It took a couple of tries in Photoshop to find one that would be perfect as far as lighting and positioning of the "face." Which reminds me... I am still working on an instructional book on Photoshop for visual artists. I can teach you this technique. Photoshop really comes in handy for situations just like this! I got the best of both worlds: a quality experience with a live model (gaining more accurate values, colors, anatomy and excitement about the pose), AND a chance to add some aesthetic changes, thanks to my enormous catalog of photo references and some help from Photoshop.

In my next post, I will blog about painting from life, and why it's so important for preventing the kinds of mistakes I made in my [aforementioned] piece. :-) 

New Painting: "A Venetian Spectator"

Today I finally finished one of my paintings from this summer's trip to Italy. I enjoyed working on this one from start to finish, and found myself continually imagining up stories about this old woman's life, and what she might have to say if I were to sit down and have a conversation with her. Her expression could read any number of ways, from sour and grumpy (i.e., "Those damned tourists!") to thoughtful and lonely or simply enjoying the fresh air. Either way, I purposefully juxtaposed the old woman with a very cheerful scene at her window: brightly blooming flower pots, topped off with a rainbow-colored pinwheel. Of course, flowers, green shutters and pinwheels are familiar sights in Venice and other Italian cities, but I felt that this image had something special about it that was worth capturing in a painting.

"A Venetian Spectator" - 30"x24" - oil on linen

Originally, the old woman was looking out from a very boring window. I decided to take her and put her in the scene that I created in the painting. Here is one of the original shots (a slightly different pose in this one but it gives you an idea of the original setting):

 I looked all over for the perfect reference photos (Steve had taken at least a thousand pictures of windows!). Here are a few of the images I considered, but none of them ended up working out.

I did at last find an image of a window that I could use. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to piece my reference materials together, making sure that the lighting matched. I was able to place the pinwheel and flowers exactly where I wanted them. I am very happy with how this painting turned out and look forward to sharing more of my works in progress soon. :-)

"Ah... Venice!"

Steve and I watched several movies in anticipation of our European trip before we left, including "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (see my quote in this post's title!) and "The Tourist." We also watched a bunch of travel documentaries, but it's always more fun to see how Hollywood romanticizes different places.

Anyway, we are here in Venice, and will be leaving early tomorrow morning, but I feel like I've seen and done everything I would have wanted to in this romantic and colorful city. The last couple of days, Steve and I simply got lost in the city... we had a map, and used it to get back to our hotel, but otherwise, it was fun to simply wander the streets, especially when it was picture-perfect with the turn of every corner!

Unfortunately, the light wasn't the greatest during our stay, and so I only managed to squeeze one painting in. With the humidity, the crowds of tourists, and somewhat cliche gondoliers whistling cheerfully as they toted tourists down the canals, I felt that I would have little or nothing new to offer in my own artistic interpretations. However, I still feel that Venice is extremely beautiful and worth visiting, and I'm hoping that as I begin to absorb all these new experiences, I'll be able to share them through my paintings, both now and later on when I return home. Here are a few pictures from our stay:

The day of our arrival: crystal blue skies and calm canals.

An amazing frame shop. I really enjoyed seeing all the specialty stores, especially the beautiful paper mache Venetian masks (I picked up a couple!).

Another lovely scene, colorful in spite of the gray skies.

Steve took these pictures of me on a bridge that was less-travelled, so I was able to paint in peace.

Dusk on the Grand Canal.

The expensive but worthwhile gondola ride. Where else can you do this? It WAS as romantic as everyone says it is. :-)