Creating the perception of motion

[Richard Monro]

I am struggling with a painting. In my minds eye, it just begs for the feel of motion in the figure. The painting I am working on is straight our of my imagination.

The painting is of a young woman in a yellow dress standing in a small brook in a shadowy forest glen. The figure is almost completely sunlit which she is just soaking up with delight.... in fact the name I plan to give the painting is Summer's Delight.

My problem is this. I don't want the figure to be static. I picture her twirling back and forth as she soaks up the sun. How should I convey this feeling. I'm thinking that the leading edges of the figure and dress should be hard edged while the trailing edges should be very soft or blurred outright. I know some potographers do a time lapse to create this effect. Hoever, I have not seen this done in portrait or figurative art.

Has anyone created the feel of motion effectively in a painting? if so any pictures or hints you could pass along would be appreciated.

[Steven Sweeney]

Most of us complain that our models won't stay still, and you want yours to move!

My only suggestion would be to impart the illusion of imminent or necessary (or just-completed) motion through an element of dynamic tension in the pose. This might be a mid-step lifted foot with the body's weight moved to the opposite side, indicated by that reverse crescent posture we assume to accommodate that movement in the center of gravity. Or a long skirt lifted to avoid a pool of water in the path. Perhaps the figure's head is turned as if her attention has been caught by some sight or sound to the side, suggesting with a slight twist that her body is being drawn around in the same direction. Perhaps arms loosely extended from the sides, one poised in leading a body rotation, the other following, her head slightly raised to indicate attention directed at something above her (the sunlit trees, perhaps.) Or one hand raised to hold aside a branch that is impeding her way, as she slightly dips her body away from it.

As for hard and soft edges, I guess I'd say, soften the edges of the parts of the form that are in movement, rather than leave a forward portion of that form hard-edged and the back side soft. You wouldn't want it to look like the cartoon Roadrunner going from zero to sixty.

The only painting I have of a static pose that suggests tension or imminent motion happens to be of a dog, which doesn't qualify for posting here, but I'll email it to you.

[Richard Bingham]

This is an interesting problem, and as usual, there are no easy "set rules" to follow . . . sometimes photographic "frozen motion" conveys less activity visually than quieter, more subtle suggestions do.

Richard, what came to my mind reading your post was the portrait Robert Liberace presented at the PSOA conference last May, of Nat'l Portrait Gallery director Marc Pachter . . . Sargent also used variations of those "cartoon" motion lines in some of his backgrounds. I hope you'll show us your work in progress! (sounds great!)

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Here are a couple of examples of movement in painting.

1. Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase"
2. A detail from a Degas painting.

[Steven Sweeney]

I took a workshop in Australia from a painter named Robert Hagan, and I immediately thought of him as I read the description of your painting. For whatever reason, he loved to paint women standing in various bodies of water.

Here's an Amazon link to his book, "Romantic Oil Painting Made Easy"--

http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Oil-P.../dp/1929834292

Click on the image of the cover to blow it up full-screen. Maybe there's something in that set-up that will suggest a course of proceeding.

[SB Wang]

Kinstler's portrait of Mrs. Dupon is praised for treatment of motion in a book.