The last of the inspired nudes

Edward Weston is an amazing artist. I don't find the shocking, or explicit, or romantic. Although his models he used were usually slender, I don't feel as though he's portraying them as the 'ideal' form. However, they aren't as brutally honest and raw as Lucian Freud's paintings for example.

I find them beatuiful, sensitive, powerful and intimate.

The last two paintings I did that day, the two shown here, I'm especially happy with. i was interrupted during painting the abdomin, and when I returned to it, I was totally happy with it as it was, and did not further work on it.

I also love this second painting of the breasts. I was never totally happy with the first one I did, and I'm glad I came back to try it again.

More inspired nudes

I used Quink writing ink which splits with water into blues, and even browns as well as black and grey. I didn't wet the whole paper, I started off working dry, finding the main lines, and added water to my inked brush to paint in tonal areas. I wet the paper where I wanted the ink to spill freely. This technique is an interesting mix of the deliberate and the happy accident. I only had to blot a couple of times when I'd gotton impatient and hadn't let an area dry before working adjacent.

They were all done on A4 paper, but I've cropped each one as I saw fit.

Inspired nudes

At last, here are the first of the ink studies from Edward Weston's nudes. I painted them in a craze, finding the lines and shadows, and translating these with ink on wet paper, which is a fast medium to work in. As I went, I lined up the paintings on the wall so I could see how I was progressing. I can see how I loosened up as I went on.

When I'd finished I felt full of energy, like I could take on anything. It was a real power trip. I'm not saying they're the best work I've ever done, but it was one of the most intense experiences I've ever had in painting. Now I'm itching to do some 'life drawing' from life.