Creative Crafty #8: Painting Again

Earlier this week I got the itch to work on a series of paintings I started a couple months ago. I started with the one from back in June of the female torso. As I had mentioned then my inspiration was "Carcass of Beef" by Soutine. My original plan was to make a series of three paintings of different angles and positions of the female body. As most of my projects go, I finished the first and didn't like the idea anymore.

I did hang the first painting on the wall though and would occasionally ponder the possibilities for it. This past weekend my boyfriend was looking at it and we began discussing the different directions I could go. By the end of our chat I decide I would do a male torso to compliment the female. I wasn't sure I liked the idea at first but after starting to sketch the idea on the canvas I slowly fell in love with the idea.

Torso of Man -  October 2012

I tend to need images to draw from but not necessarily the exact image. I believe the engineering part of my mind, my left brain, is to blame for this because it wants things to be "accurate". True to character I grabbed my calender of  rugby men and googled some images of the muscle structure of man. Cranking some Bing Crosby on the record player I got my right brain on and zoned. Drawing and re-drawing multiple times until i developed the basic structure and layout that I wanted for my new painting.

First Encounters  - 2012

I wanted the two paintings to be a pair so I stayed with a similar color scheme but differing the second slightly. I had intentions of making the male torso more of an orange tone but in my dimly lit loft I did not succeed in this. Yet I am still happy with the result. The two paintings together are a symbol of the feelings of the first date or meeting. That raw attraction or spark mixed with self consciousness that makes you feel exposed. My hopes is for the final painting to be of the two embracing but I am not yet sure how.