Here is what I painted today. I thought about all the things that I like about painting and tried to keep that in mind while painting. I took some photos of a model in a ballet outfit (which I bought on e-Bay) a while ago so I went through those and found one I thought would make a good subject for my experiment. I didn’t want anything too complicated. I left out the flowers and I changed her feet to make them simpler too. In fact, my favorite part of this painting is the feet! I had to make them up and they turned out to be the best part of the painting.
Below is what my easel looked like during this exercise. I did some thumbnails last night to figure out the design. That’s the tiny pencil drawing on the left. The reference photo is on the right.
This was fun, I really wasn’t worried about how the painting would turn out since in my mind it was the first of many “experiments”. Now I’ll figure out what I like about this painting, and what I could do differently, and I’ll paint another ballerina. Another experiment. Except tomorrow is my figure class so I’ll paint a model. Then another ballerina. This is an 8″x10″ oil on linen canvas. I have a stack of these boards with linen mounted on them so I might as well use them up. I need to NOT think of materials as precious.
Joan,
This is beautiful and conveys a lot of emotion.
You should consider painting a series of these.
Imagine what your booth would look like if you had nothing but dancers (lol).
I have been meaning to comment about your last several posts about your art show and booth. I think you are being to hard on yourself…in this type of situation; there are often more artists than customers (in my experience anyhow). Booths evolve over the years, and what works one year may not attract much attention the next. I like the eclectic mix to your booth. Maybe you could focus on two halves…. one half with dancers for instance (in the same medium) the other half a different subject. Print bins are always good for people to browse unframed originals and/or reproductions. A small spinning (table top size) card rack allows the customer to linger and reproducing older work on cards can give the customer a good overview of what you are about and your body of work.
I personally think that if you paint in several different mediums (such as I) that if you frame everything in the same kind of moulding…. it brings unity to everything. The customer can always have it re framed if it is not to their liking.
I love what you said about “I thought about all the things that I like about painting and tried to keep that in mind while painting”…..this is a fabulous visualization tool to keep us positive and on track from the heart.
Hi Maggie, thank you so much for leaving such a detailed and thoughtful post. I just wonder about the whole booth sales thing in general. I suppose some people can be very succesful at it. You have some very good suggestions. Some of the artists did have prints of their work available, I wish I knew how they did. That’s an idea. I know one woman had 3 made at a time and if the prints sold, she would have more made. They must have been inkjet or something, not printed on a press. I do have cards but no spinning rack.
thank you!
Joan
Oh my gosh! When I first saw this painting, my mouth dropped open. Please do more in a series. By the way, I love Maggie’s suggestions.
I love the colors in the dress! … Yeah… positive visualization… GREAT!!!
Wow this is really beautiful and has such a strong sense of emotion to it. You are right about the feet, I as a viewer can almost feel that pose she’s in because of them.
Dear Janelle, Marian and Karen,
Thank you for your kind compliments and for your encouragement. I do plan to do more and I’m sticking with the plan this time. 🙂
Joan
Hello Joan, I have seen beautiful paintings, Congratulations!
Every time I come to you if you are not sorry.
Ciao!!!
I like the strong composition that the shadow makes in this picture. It really emphasizes the ballet skirt and feet.