So, Week two of this piece and I am thinking more about the story behind this painting. What started as a bit of fun, leading on from my last first attempt at water, ‘Dolce Vita’ (on the website Recent Work) has begun to develop a bit of a story and got legs, as it were (!). The sky is darkening, which is emphasising the light on the water. I can’t wait to put more detail into this light, but have to be patient and wait for the paint to dry. This could be a metaphor for the woman’s life, emerging from a troubled past into a bright future, hence her kicking up the splashes of water, which will add vivacity to the work. Again, I have to wait to paint these essential dashes of white to the water, so hopefully next week will see this sorted. Alternatively, it could just be a woman enjoying being by the water, showing off her shoes – you the viewer can decide. I am a great advocate of strong women, happy in their own skin. I am working up the water now and should be able to give it more definition by next week,…
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Last week a small painting of a pair of legs set over swimming pool water featured in the Blog and received a very positive response. I feel I want to paint more along these lines, hence the new work above, which is a little larger. I loved painting the water and as followers of my Blog will know, I always like painting female legs, but would like to have a bit more of a narrative theme to this piece. The title ‘Moving On’ is because I feel this woman wants to move on, start again, possibly from a failed relationship and she is going to kick up the water – making a bigger splash. There will be much more light to this painting as I work it up, more white highlights to make the splashing etc. There will be more light on the horizon, shimmering on the water, which looks a bit obvious, but I would like this to be a positive painting. There is darkness on the horizon as well, but the light is breaking through and the woman is, I think, happy to kick up the water. There will be more lighter tones on the water, but I…
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This is a relatively small piece, oil on block canvas, 8 x 10 x 1.5 inches (20 x 25 x 4 cm) One of my followers on Twitter sent me a link to a competition in The Hamptons, NY where water was the theme. I was interested until I saw I only had about two weeks till the deadline and had decided this was impossible. However I thought to myself, are you man or mouse? You CAN do this, so I did, hence the smaller than usual size. I have really enjoyed painting water, a first for me, and with the little time available, I realised I could not put a whole figure into the piece as flesh tones are notoriously difficult to get right (for me at least), so decided on legs only. Add the trademark red shoes in, and I am very pleased with the result. Even I do not get into the competition, it has pointed me in a new direction as I now want to paint a larger piece involving water and a whole female figure, with or without the red shoes…. Please have a look at http://www.opperandwebb.com to see more of my work. I shall…
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