Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Nudes

Most of my work tends to focus on portraits and faces. Not sure why, but I have a fascination with drawing people, particularly women.

Periodically, though, I've experimented with drawing bodies. They're stylized and not very anatomically correct, but still an interesting change of pace.

The one above was done a few years ago in a composition book journal I was working in. I used masking tape for the background to give texture, then painted over it with acrylics. I used Inktense pencils for the drawing.


This one is an excerpt from another journal page--again from a composition book journal. I was thinking about what it means to be "sexy." This is one of the few I've done where I felt like I approximated a real-life flesh color. Most of the time I'm doing something you won't find in nature. 




Last summer, I started working in a bound journal and was doing more work with water color. The paper wasn't the best for it, but I liked working in a book. 


Here's another one from the same journal. I'm terrible with arms and hands, so tend to position things on the page so I don't have to draw them. 


I started experimenting with re-working old pieces in new journals, so the one below is another version of the nude at the top of this post. It was an interesting way to play with emphasizing something different in the figure. 

In January, I started playing with painting in acrylics. Since I wasn't sure if I'd like it, I started on bristol board, rather than canvas. This one is from those initial forays into painting.


As I got more comfortable with painting, I moved into painting on canvas. This is one of my favorite pieces ever, actually, because I loved the transparency and vibrancy of the colors and all the dripping. 


I'm still not comfortable with paining bodies. I can't seem to get the proportions the way I want, etc. Mostly I need to practice more, but always I'm drawn to faces. . . 



2 comments:

Librarian Christie said...

I am in love with these paintings of women. they are so raw and simple!

MIchele said...

Thanks, Sofia! I'm definitely less comfortable with bodies, so it's great to hear that they resonate with you. :-)