Figure in Movement

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Thank-you very much David. It's very nice of you to comment so warmly!

[Stanka Kordic]

Dear Thomasin,

I truly hope the Art World is acknowledging the unique freshness of your talent. It takes my breath away.

I haven't taken the time to peruse your past posts, but can you speak briefly about your palette and technique? The texture of your work is so intriguing..no medium?

Wishing you every success in your career.

Stanka

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Stanka, thank-you so much for your generous comments and well-wishes! And thank-you for taking the time to post your comments. They mean a great deal.

When I painted that painting (about 5 or 6 years ago) I was using a lot of earthy colours such as yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw umber, burnt umber and also basic reds such as cadmium and alizarin crimson. It was the palette introduced at University by our lecturers. They were mostly landscape artists and transfered their landscape palette to the figure. But it worked very well. Nowadays I am using a lot of lemon yellow, terra verte, and cadmium orange, ultramarine blue, and phthalo blue. I am also using some mars yellow and naples yellow to keep the background figures and receding parts of the forefigure warm but not too prominent. I find that a good thick titanium white, such as winsor and newton's one, is great for achieving the substance of flesh

I don't use any medium, just oil paint, although sometimes I do use liquin as a sort of varnish to bring out the transparency and saturation of the paint once it has dried.

I just work the paint, the drawing, and the tonal relationships together, and shifting and reshifting everything around (if I have the guts as it gets harder to be brave the closer the painting is to working) until it looks like a figure in space. At the moment I am working the blues and greens in the light with the yellow whites to create a sense of form. I am also beginning to really see the relationship of the background with the figure - rather than just putting the background in, I am really working the tones, lightnesses and complementariness of colours with the figure to make the figure pop out in a very tactile way.

I am looking a lot at Lucien Freud - very intelligent painter.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Great job.

My favorite of yours!

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Thanks so much, Claudemir. I am very pleased you like it.

[Linda Brandon]

I finally spotted this thread - Thomasin, it's the organic, tactile, textural nature of your work that is so impressive. There's such a strong sense that you enjoy paint. This painting reminds me of a couple of Boldinis I've seen (not his flashier, late work) - if I can find them I'll email them to you.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Dear Linda

Sorry not to have posted a reply earlier - it has been a busy few days! Thank-you so much for your lovely comments. I am very flattered that an artist like you appreciates my work as much as you do. If you do find those Boldinis I would love to see them - perhaps you could post then on this thread.