Roundism – 07-08-22

A Most Peculiar Photo

This work is a conversion of my graphite pencil drawing ‘Roundism - 07-08-21 (sold)’ into oil. For the appreciation of the merits of the initial reference picture I refer to that link. I still think it is one of the most peculiar photos taken of a studio model. Makes me a bit jealous of my own poor photographical skills. In fact I have tried to have my regular model pose this way. To no avail though. I think the photographer must have used some kind of special objective and distance to get the foreshortening right. Not really possible in my small apartment.

Adding Color

Since the abstraction of bodily features in the drawing was perfect I needed only to invent the color scheme. The first set-up after the monochromous underpainting in Perylene black was a bit too strong. I had pinks and greens blend in bigger parts such as thighs. That is when I look up some of my older work and see if I get inspired by those. Frida Kahlo (2020) happens to hang in my studio and her colors keep on charming me. After some consideration I decided to use similar low chroma pinks – almost apricotish – as the dominant color. This way I pushed back the competing dominance of the greens. The bizarre forms of a body demand no hefty colors anyway. People most likely have a whole bunch on untangling limbs and making sense of the posture.

Finished?

I completed this on a Sunday evening, so I thought. You never can tell, especially after an intensive session. It’s always excitingly uncertain to see it in the morning whether it is really finished or not. Last painting with the Durieu theme someone asked me if the painting was created by an algorhythym or not. That takes me back to a moment in time when I saw a Tamara de Lempicka in real life. I was relieved by the fact that I saw some slight irregularities in the form of brush strokes. Also did some planes appear perfectly aligned but not 100% exact. This Monday morning I decided I didn’t want to sweep mine under the rug. In some parts, for example the right shoulder, the paint is not smoothed out completely. The imperfection is perfect now.

Oil on linen (70 x 100 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers