Summer Dance: A Return to Form

Don't get me wrong...I love the Natural Remedy series, but after hours and hours and hours of plants, symbols, and minute details my brain needed a break...or rather a return to my more typical subject matter: the figure.

It's not necessarily easy to change gears. If you're familiar with how I paint, it usually comes naturally and unplanned. I'll start with a vague idea or concept, but the specifics all come about on their own. When you've been doing the same thing for months, your muscle memory takes over whether or not you want it to. 

Summer Dance came from this struggle. I wanted something that was energetic and vibrant but i needed to avoid foliage as much as possible. It was just starting to feel lazy. I started with some similar shapes but rather than leaves or petals these became torsos, legs and hips.

To counter the spastic energy of NatRem while keeping a liveliness of its own I went with repetition. This brings the focus to the human form and provides movement in a way that contrasts the chaos of Natural Remedy. It also gave me a focus from early on; something concrete to grab hold of; rather than wondering if it would eventually come together. I focused on keeping the canvas wet to remove a bit of control. Colors mix, edges blur; all the stuff that didn't happen when working with acrylic pens for NatRem.

I finished the composition by adding pillars to either side. This created a scene of sorts while also countering the respective forms and organic linework. It also brings to mind the idea of a stage or theater, further building potential narratives. Of course, I couldn't remove all nature, but I connected it directly to the figures by mixing in a stampede of feet that resemble the shape of the flowers, making them almost like footprints left behind, creating more movement and even a sense of time.

I'm excited to say that Summer Dance has found a new home and will be hitting the mail in the next week. Check out the site shop and use the coupon code HOLIDAY2024 for 20% all purchase through the new year!