The Shadow

This is a rather expressive painting that I did some years ago now.

Although it is not a brilliant painting it does have a certain atmosphere in it which i think makes it quite interesting and worth talking about.

The first thing that strikes you is obviously the figure of a young girl curled into an almost foetal position. A protective gesture. her face is turned away from the viewer and she holds her hands across her chest - but seems to be doing something with them - fiddling her fingertips, or praying? Her knees are drawn up and her legs extend from these and end in large earth-bound feet. Her feet are crossed as well which closes her body up even further.

So here she is - this rather enigmatic, closed up and turned in figure who appears to be almost floating. The strongest shade in the painting is her cast shadow and this for me is what the painting is really about. The Shadow that takes on a life of its own. The girl is rather faint and ambiguous, but her shadow is strong and powerful. It has a distinct form of its own - I will leave it to yourself to interpret what it might be - and her body seems to skim on the very edge of it - like an insect which hops or floats on the surface of a pond.

I can't draw any parallels to the day I have had today though - i just saw it in my folder and thought you might like to see it. I don't feel like curling up in a protective gesture and I don't feel that I am a shadow lurking anywhere and i don't feel like an insect skimming on a pond.

Today has just been a busy one, preparing some reference pictures for a large-ish relief piece and finishing off another medal - which I will photograph and show you tomorrow.

I have not had the time yet to go hunting for those other beach photos I promised you either - the day is just too short and I have far to much to do every minute.

A suitable picture might have been of the White Rabbit rushing around clutching his large pocket watch and declaring himself 'too late' for i spend a large part of the day rushing around too, trying to fit it all in and sometimes falling short of the mark.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.