More Figure Studies

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have been busy in the interim period. I’ve finished another portrait – elements of which I am very pleased with – and some more figure studies. Unfortunately I’ve been let down by my poor photography skills and the pictures I have of these pieces are just too bad to post. I’m going to have another go soon and hopefully I’ll get some images that are more satisfactory to archive.

‘Standing Nude’, 12″ x 10″, oil on linen

‘Seated Nude’, 10″ x 8″, oil on linen

While not at all brilliant, here are two pictures of recent figure paintings that are OK enough to put online. They are fairly quick studies, done in 2 or 3 sessions, and are also pretty small. I’m consciously trying to mix subtly different flesh tones – some with a base that’s more pink, some more yellow, and some warm grey. I’m then laying the paint down and trying to resist the temptation to blend. I really like to see brushwork and broken colour in work I admire, but find it very difficult to achieve myself. Nothing worth the effort was ever easily won though.

I would like to work on some figure studies with different backdrops to enrich the palette and tonal changes a little more. I’d also like to consider different crops and maybe not always including the full figure. As these are learning studies in a class with other people to consider however, I am limited in terms of some of these aspirations, but I can let my ideas bubble away for work I undertake in my own studio.