Two Women, Part 3

Acrylic added. Time to start a new one.

Two Women, Part 2

Watercolor and graphite. Maybe I should have stopped at this point... but I didn't.

Mask

I found (in a box marked "Pencils," strangely enough) these Derwent Sketching pencils, marked "dark wash" and "med wash," which melt--but not completely--into washes with water. Kind of interesting effect. This is about 6"x 7," on CP paper. The photo charmed me because her mask is crooked and her neck is dirty--I think I caught the mask, anyway.

Two Women WIP

Graphite, wash, watercolor on 300 lb Fabriano CP. About 20.5" x 28". Lots more to do.

Latest Figure

Nothing like standing in front of the easel to make you humble again. Wc/acrylic on 300-lb CP paper. The image is about 20"x28"--a full sheet, anyway.

These nudes are based on "French postcards"--erotic photographs from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. I started with them simply because I love the figure and they were reference to experiment with, but as I study these pictures I become more entranced with the young women they portray. In so many, the poses are "sexy," but the faces are bored or sad, and their hands look work-worn or grubby even though they're ornamented with long nails and jewelry. If I develop this series into more than opportunity to play with new and unfamiliar paint, I will concentrate even more on the faces and hands, trying to find the individuals, the girls locked in these old dirty pictures.

Award

Nap was selected for the First Prize in Paintings at the NC Artists Exhibition. I'm so proud and pleased I could pop.