Leroy's Art Blog

I haven't posted many of the figure paintings I've done this semester, even though I've been taking TWO figure painting courses. All those vegetable/fruit paintings were just homework, another way to learn how to paint rounded shapes and observe how the surfaces react to shadows, reflected light, highlights and glare and stuff. The idea is to then bring these skills back into painting the figure. But painting the human body is still tough. In addition to all the normal shape and shadow problems, the skin is transparent with all those subtle responses to the interior muscles and bones, and arms and legs are so likely to end up looking like sausages, tubes or columns.

For all that, I have definitely gotten better over the semester, and it has been interesting that the careful work with Doug Martenson (multiple sittings of the model in the same pose) with the more instinctive approach of Giovanni Casadei (one or two finished paintings in every session) have complemented each other. So now I even have some figure paintings that I don't cringe to put up on the walls of my Salon. (It used to be my "apartment" but by now it is so full of painting paraphernalia and stuff that it is more of a studio/salon. I have to clear stuff away to put down my plate for breakfast.)

So here is some of my late coursework. First, from the longer painting sessions with Doug:


I really disliked this sitting. The model was a beautiful woman, placed in the center of the room. But I was a little late getting to the class and all the good viewing angles were already crowded so I ended up behind her looking at more chair than model.

For Susan's second pose I made sure I had a good position. There was a fantastic flowing line from the top of her hip to the foot, and I wanted to be sure to feature that. I like the way the value contrast with the dark, cool background worked out, and the green foreground seems to work well too. It was hard to deal with that drastic twist in her body, in which the axis of her hips is almost at right angles to the axis of her shoulders.


In my other figure painting class, Giovanni has been stressing the importance of RELATIONSHIPS in our painting, and says that our goal is not to make masterpieces but to try new things and new ways to paint, to work without an idea of what we want the end result to look like. I find that exceptionally difficult to do, after a whole career of analysing things and defining goals before starting any project.

Before yesterday's class I asked Giovanni to demonstrate how he starts a painting without having an end idea in mind. He agreed, and talked while he began the little sketch below. First he considers the model, who was a very warm color, against the background that was a cool, somewhat blue-ish color. The blank canvas was an overall warm brown, so he began by putting in the cool background, leaving a negative space to fill in with the model. Then he began matching colors to the highlights on her head and shoulders and laying those in very loosely. It was magical to see the beauty of the colors and relationships take shape, even at this early stage of painting:


I picked up from there, starting fresh with a new canvas. My work soon became analytical again - I can't keep from wanting it to "look right." In a way, this is a form of insecurity - a feeling that every painting must be "good," or "beautiful" - and it absolutely gets in the way of spontaneity. It is the loss of freedom that children have to just pick up crayons and play - before they are taught that they are supposed to stay within the lines.

Even just the attempt to paint without trying to be "right" all the time produces some interesting results. In my followup painting of the same model there is a nice volume to the torso, and this is one of those things that I still find hard to achieve:



And here are two more of my figure paintings from Giovanni's class. I'm a little sorry that there is only one more class before the end of the semester, now that things seem to be coming along pretty well. But it does feel like time to take a break, and during June I will be taking a drawing course entitled Conquering Hands and Feet. I don't know about the "Conquering" part, but I sure will be glad to have some instruction on handling those appendages with more skill!