Life drawing. Holding On plus an older post that got lost.

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Holding On. Acrylic on prepared paper. 60 minutes.
I’ve been trying to learn, to get better, to progress. Instead of just painting, repeating the same work, I have goals; making sure the work is worth doing. Here’s what I’m working on.

1. The colour palette, making the skin tones look like the model’s real skin. The background colours matter as well, so I’m preparing the paper or canvas with colours that will work well with the new skin colour range.
2. The focus, making the painted image reflect how I really see. Patches of visual excitement and tranquil spaces.
3. Mark making, letting go of the pencils, just using brushes. Fan brushes work well at the moment.
4. Doing justice to the models, the time spent observing, the dialogue.
5. Atmosphere. Trying to make the work have more emotional weight.

The model was holding something. I thought it might be good to have some mystery, so I left the something out. The painting was a constant control of colour and imagery. Some have said it looks a bit Francis Bacon like, which is good.

The time spent Mary Ward Centre is very important to me.

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Five times Robin. A great model, full of brio. Being an actor he has many ‘looks’.
A lot of different marks.

The other image is two pieces of paper waiting for some paint. They make a nice abstract work. Yes, those are my feet for scale.

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This painting was made in November but has not been posted before.

Lady on canvas. Acrylic and compressed charcoal on canvas. 60 minutes.
The canvas was primed but the paint still seemed to soak in a bit too much.
The objects were moved around the composition. This could be worth working on.

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A close up of. the above and a photo of the rest of the canvas.