Saturday, February 20, 2010

STATUE STUDY


First I would like to say sorry for not posting for awhile. Two reasons, one I have been away and two, have had family staying. As anyone who is an artist knows, both can be huge distractions. Anyway, while I have been doing some painting, I have not finished much that I have wanted to share but here at least is a small study that I recently completed. The painting is of a part of a large statue I saw in Washinton DC. I'm afraid that I forget the name of the sculpture and also the name of the creator (but I'll look next time I'm downtown). For me, the interest in making a painting of this scene was in the cropped design that I saw when looking at the sculpture. The mass is mostly to the right and to the bottom giving a right to left momentum. One can certainly feel the drama of the horses and cannon struggling through the mud of the battlefield. There were many interesting shapes created against the grey sky and I also liked the subtle play of light (which is not too obvious in this photo as it's not that great). I had always planned on painting a larger version of this subject so hopefully when I finish some of the others that I have in the studio at the moment, I'll be able to get on to that one. The oil study is 5 1/2" X 7 1/2".