Oil on Canvas
600 x 500mm
This is model Charlotte and the result of 2 sittings. In the first I made 3 or 4 pen and wash studies in my sketch pad. This pose emerged as the strongest with a balance of composition and a sense of ease coming to the fore.
Transposing it to canvas for the second session, my oil palette arranged in anticipation and a picture of the final painting firmly in mind - the creative process was effectively strangled and the result was a little flat
It sat in my attic for a year until retrieved on a 'search and rescue' mission. I began to idly trace her contours with line then re-establish the underlying colour - it pretty much painted itself thereafter. If you squint at it - a sense of form emerges.
The focus for the background was to continue the segmented theme using cool flat colours to project forward the figure - the sloping base a warm crimson lake inviting you into the picture plane from the bottom of the painting
