Figure Paintings

During my last semester of teaching I returned to a style of figure painting that I had left when I was working in a more abstract fashion. This style has a stronger emphasis on the creative use of white paper and a more established and expressive line. The figure becomes more representational but not so much so that it is intimidating to the novice drawer. I think the unfortunate thing for some painters is there reluctance to work figures into their paintings due to their fear of accurate drawing. What they are missing is the fact that unless you are painting the ultra representation figure the model just becomes an interesting shape that can be exaggerated and creatively designed with focus on position on the paper and lost and found edges. No need to project the image and fake your drawing skills just really emphasize the character of the pose and then use dramatic colors, and move the lights and whites in and out of the figure.