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The more I look

Naked desire (2)I’ve been working on the acrylic painting of the tasteful erotic couple most of this week inbetween doing other things of a more domestic nature as and when they arrived. So its not been non stop all of the week.  I know I have a specific way of working when I paint and that is to build up the layers of colour. I know that some artists look at the colour and put it on the paper, and whereas I can paint that way, I prefer the various layers approach as it gives more form to the painting, and makes the picture look more natural, and the people within the picture interact better with each other through lost and found edges, gently merging background colours into the flesh so that the whole thing looks softer. This painting is about half way through in that its been drawn out on the canvas and the basic first undercoat layer applied. Since then I’ve added more layers, fine tuning each one for colour, tone, and line. And bearing in mind that the original image that I’m working from is one single photo – that I took – so nothing has changed within the photo I’m working from but what I like is the way it opens itself up to me. The hint of a shadow in the skin, the fine lines between the fingers, the soft blush of colour under the skin, the turn of the wrist, the shallow curves of muscle and the delicate angle of hand and neck. Its all there, and the more I look the more I see. The more I want to paint it, to capture the light and form of this couple, and put it all there within my paint like I did for this one “Naked desire” that I painted in oils a few years ago.

But now, I have to wait.

Wait for the daylight, because even though its acrylics, they won’t look exactly the same in daylight as they do in the artificial light I’m having to paint in on this dreary winters day.  The picture will look right in artificial light if it looks right in daylight. But not necessarily the other way round.

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