LIFE PAINTING

After focusing on the contours of the body for so long in my drawing classes, it was refreshing to focus on its mass in the painting module.

Instead of concentrating on the precise outlines that define the body, I explored its weight, volume, and the way light interacts with the skin. I could use broad strokes to convey depth and solidity, rather than relying solely on linework. Painting allowed me to see the body not just as a collection of edges, but as a three-dimensional presence that occupies space.

We started with warm-ups that were incredibly short. The warm-ups above went for 2-5 minutes each. The first time my tutor called out, "Two minute pose please," I was boggled (and a little bit mad). Just two minutes?!

And yet it was actually possible. I worked fast and loose with my oil paints, feeling like I was simply slapping paint onto the surface. But two minutes later, I had a figure. Not that I had any time to reflect much on it, because we immediately moved onto the next quick pose.

I also did a couple of warm-ups on a canvas that I had previously messed with. I kind of like the furious energy of the acrylic red and green, contrasted with the still, seated figures.

Then it was time for the actual painting session. I had a horrifically cheap piece of canvas glued to a board. It was supposedly already primed and I didn't bother priming it myself. It felt like I was working on sandpaper. But I quite liked it; there was a scratchiness to the texture that was pleasing to the eye and helped simulate the uneven texture and colour of real skin.

I had previously done full size portraits so I wanted to zoom in with my composition. I went for the most visually interesting part of the model's body and pose - the taut muscles in her collar and neck area, responding to her hunched shoulders, her breasts, the compression of skin and fat around her torso, and her resting hand.

The hand ended up giving me the most issues, in part because I was sitting too far away to read the details of her fingers well with my eyes and in part because I'm still working on my anatomical understanding.

In our second session, our tutor had me set up at an angle behind the model. It was a trickier pose to process than a front-on composition, but in other ways it was also easier; I could think of the model's body more as a collection of shapes rather than getting lost in my idea of what a body looks like.

You can tell that I was once again fascinated by the visual interest contained in the shoulder/collar, breast and hand area. My eye gravitated there when I looked at the pose, so I knew I had to focus on it in the painting.

Overall I was happy with the result; when I look at the painting, it evokes a strong memory of sitting on my painting stool, brush in hand, squinting at the model. When doing works like this, my goal is never to produce a photograph, but rather to capture only enough information that the moment itself is expressed on the canvas.