Ballroom dancers - Joan Breckwoldt

This is what I’ve been working on this weekend. I have been thinking a lot about getting back to painting figures but in a . . . looser or even abstract way. For example, where are these people? I have left the background undefined. I like the guy standing over on the right side of the canvas. I felt I needed some interest on that side of the canvas and I started out painting a man with a partner, but I didn’t want a light colored dress so close to the edge of the painting, so that guy ended up alone. And as it turns out, I like him over there by himself.

I may work with this theme for a while. I can already see a painting with just the two central dancers and that lonely guy by himself. These ballroom dancers are a fun subject. I googled ballroom dancers and got a photo of a roomful of dancers, I took my design from that. Another good thing about these dancers is that the dresses can be any color, which is also nice because I can play with color this way.

This painting is oil on linen canvas and is 16″x20″.