Water Bodies

Perusing my Reader last night I was looking at peoples art and photography blogs and I decided, I really like it when the artist talks about their work.  I like the story and being able to understand where they were and what they were thinking.  So, I thought I’d tell you more about my latest body of work and show you the latest in the series.

Update: The images are now available on Fine Art America as framed prints for sale as well as mugs, pillows and iphone cases for sale.

Water Bodies, the series I’ve been showing lately, came to me just a few days ago.  (Remember the car?) I’m not even exactly sure where the idea came from.  Except for a few random sketches over the years, I’ve not done a lot of figure drawing. I’ve not done much art out of my head quite like this either.

The first painting was really just an effort to break the funk that the old car painting was putting me in.  Like I said, I wanted something a little more free and easy.  I was getting bored already with my landscapes as well. Other contributing thoughts going on were that I felt like my other paintings have been immature, I had said this year I was going to paint sunsets and hadn’t started that yet, and flashes of some sketches I’d done over the years that have always been some of my favorites. Suddenly there were 3 or 4 quick sketches on my note pad.  Maybe divine? 😉  I don’t know but, I picked one.

“Mother Earth” acrylic on 11×14 canvas panel

When I first showed this painting, people saw different things.  Everyone is pretty much in agreement that those are breasts but the confusion came as some think the view is looking down the body and others saw it as looking up.  The truth is, that center “mountain” is a chin.  Yeah, we’re looking up the body as the figure leans back to dunk her hair under the water.

After painting  the first image or maybe as I was painting it, I had a flood of other ideas to go along with it.  The ideas really started pouring out.

working title “Together or Apart” acrylic on 16 x 20 canvas panel

This image changed a bit as I was working it.  There was going to be a waterfall but, the more I painted, the more vulgar it looked.  That is not my intention.

So, as the second painting began to evolve,the “about” began to evolve too.  I realized that these aren’t just body parts on water.  Rather, this series is about perceptions and how we don’t always see the truth.  Sometimes what we perceive to be the truth is a skewed version of reality.  It is about the beauty of God’s creations, all of them.  It is also comparing shapes of humans with the shapes found in nature.  It is making a statement about us all being beautiful.

So, the above image is generally seen as being one person and the center humps are more breasts.  In reality, the figures are just a bit off to belong to the same person.  Just slightly skewed.  As I look at the image on the screen though, the skew might not be enough….  Anyway, my thought behind this was that I wanted you to initially see it as one person then maybe only after me saying so, you begin to see that it could actually be two people with their backs together and those center humps?  Shoulders.

A side note…  As I began working on these paintings, a second set of paintings came to mind. So, as a branch off of these, I think I’m going to do the opposite view.  The same paintings only the view would be from under the water.

Anyway, on to painting three…  Painting three was chosen because I wanted to show that these paintings aren’t supposed to be vulgar rather, beautiful.

#3 (untitled) acrylic on 5×7 canvas panel

Painting number three makes me think about how we are all beings of light.  but, if you don’t grab hold of that light, if you hide it or smother it, it can loose its brightness. It is about knowing that we are each special and magnificent and bright beings of light.

Finally, (for now), painting number 4.

#4 (untitled) acrylic on 8×10 canvas panel

Originally, the shape on the left was going to be another breast except, it was too obvious.  Remember, part of the idea behind these paintings is about perception and illusion.  So, This is actually another shoulder that could look like two legs at first glance.

I do hope you enjoyed these paintings.  I can’t wait to see where they take me.  Like I mentioned I already have ideas for atleast one if not two spin off series like these.  I’m pretty sure they will keep me busy for several months 🙂

I would love to hear your thoughts on these images, especially if you have some ideas on how to make them better. 🙂

Thanks for looking!

~L

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