Another Nude Study and a Good Omen

I have decided to finish the week with another nude study.

I think you can start to see my interest in the human figure. All the structures of flesh and muscle and bone created through the use of shade against light.

While this figure has a similarity with yesterday's post being a torso viewed from behind, I think you can start to see the way I am starting to play around with the figure as I have distorted the shoulder and hip - splaying them outwards. I have also accentuated the slimness of the waist in order to represent the femaleness of the figure.

While the lighting on this picture is quite attractive i have to admit that this is in fact the result of a poor photo which, try as i might, I could not cure. All my photoshop skills could not get rid of that strange central glow. But I will leave it up to you to interpret what it might mean now that it is there.

I like the way this figure almost becomes an abstract picture. When you start to look at it and let your eyes roam over the hills and hollows the subject matter starts to disappear until all you see are the dark shadows, contrasted with the highlights. And then suddenly the dark shadows almost burn right through the paper as if a match had been lit to it. The darkness in turn makes the white areas seem to jump out at you off the page.

Cutting off the head and legs also helps to make the figure less like a human figure and more like an abstract form.

The only thing that annoys me about this drawing is the elbow. i cannot imagine what I was trying to do with that, but it just looks plain wrong!

On a very happy note (and a completely different subject) I had a very strange dream last night. Very vividly I remember sitting up in bed and seeing a large, bright red butterfly flying over the bed. I actually think I did sit up and point and say something about it - I believe I was overwhelmed by its great beauty and mystical qualities. In fact I know that I woke poor Vic, but then I simply lay down and went back to sleep. But, and this is very fortuitous, I had a look at butterfly symbolism this morning and discovered that a red butterfly represents good health. So perhaps the red butterfly flying over our bed in the middle of the night will bless us both with good health for some time to come.

And so I will leave you now and wish you a very happy weekend with lots of good things. A red butterfly for all