Figure in blue hat
 

Well I posted this in the unveiling sections and have had no comments so far, so I thought I would post it here. It is influenced by the painting philosophy of my Rhodes University lecturers (Noel Hodnett ) and the founder of the Grahamstown (South Africa) Group of painters (Brian Bradshaw ) - an immediate, passionate, gestural style balanced with (I hope) sound drawing.

Thomasin, this is a interesting peace but I am not sure if you are calling this finished or a work in progress. This makes it difficult for one to give a honest critique. How far do you wish to take this individual project? Will this be a impressionistic scene from the beech if so then frame it its done.

Your drawing, measuring and observational skills are real good. Still, I believe you are holding your self back for some reason? You have it in you to go beyond what your teachers have accomplished. Look to the people on this forum. Look at their work. Notice the individual, struggles and level of skill and time donated by professional artists. There is a wealth of information here already. See if you can utilize it.

If you are trying to develop a stile don't. Master the skill the stile will come.

Wish you success

Thomasin,

I like the composition and the brushwork. To me the abstract background works because it has a texture that is consistent with beach hat and sun, but it could be a wall or sand or just texture. Your drawing does seem correct, but there are a few places where the way you have put in the color create a problem with respect to reading the form correctly. They are:

1) the shadow under the arm--it looks convex and thus does not follow the concave structure of the armpit

2) the far arm--the lack of upper edge on the bicep and the gravelly texture of the lower inside arm make this arm hard to read as a form. It's also unclear where it is in 3-D space.

3) the bluish shadow below the navel is ambiguous.

I think this work is charming in many ways. Not everyone would think to paint a middle-aged woman's body and you've done it in an interesting way.

Alex

Thank-you, Mischa and Alexandra, for your most helpful critiques. This is one of my most recent works and the best I was capable of when I painted it. (Athough, I always seem to surprise myself with getting better with each new work, and crits like yours certainly help with motivating improvement.)

Mischa, I do still have a certain anxiety when I paint - you know, the old problem of being too precious - I do feel like I will obliterate my individual style if I work too much on a painting. I'd rather just paint a new one. That being said, I don't want to move away from the immediacy of paint application and the roughness, even ugliness of paintmarks which I feel is my own. But, again, if it is my own, then, as you said, it will take care of itself.

Could you please tell me what you saw in the work, Mischa, that made you say I might be holding things back.

Alexandra, I'll take a look at the shadows again. Under the arm - the armpit - there was a certain fleshiness, but I do think,after looking again, the orange edge to the shadow may have a too-exaggerated curve to the right. The model was fleshy, but I see what you mean about the armpit being concave there. I wasn't sure, though, what you meant about the ambiguity of the blue shadow under the naval - I'll take another look.

All in all, the key to everything seems to be drawing, drawing , drawing. Which is, in fact, great as it is what I like best about the whole affair.

Thanks again for the crits. They made me want to get up and paint.

Two questions:

1. Why ??

2. Size, support/ ground ??

Thank you.

PS You certainly own the "chops" to do anything you please, it appears.

Richard - Why? Well, it just happened really. I was painting the figure with the blue hat from the front. It was towards the end of the Californian summer, and I had images of light and the heat floating around my head, and a pleasant feeling of my continuing the tradition of the Californian Realists of mid last century, but I was working myself more and more deeply into a rut fussing with something - I can't remember what now - and then a glance at the form and shadows at the side of the figure inspired me to do the whole thing again. When I began this second time, the painting's initial marks suggested that the head was turned away, so that's what I did. I had been looking at Homer's paintings at the time too, so that's probably what gave me the idea of a hat.

It's oil on canvas, 30" x 24".

Thomasin, thank you. It's much easier to appraise a work on-monitor when the scale is known. I like your paint handling.

I presume this is why you asked "why?", Richard. Was I right?

Actually, I was hoping you'd explain a little more about the painting philosophy you mentioned, compositional considerations, and the wherefore of the incongruity of a nude wearing a hat . . .

I love the sun drenched skintones and the clear cool areas that are influenced by the sky.