Figurative paintings have always been so intimidating for me. I don’t know what it is about painting people that makes me feel like I’m about to jump out the window of a 20 story building. After giving this a bit of thought, I’ve concluded that it must be because mistakes are much easier to detect when looking at a figure painting. We look at people every day; co-workers, actors on TV, ourselves in the mirror – so we know EXACTLY how a person should look. If the nose is too big or maybe the ear is too small, you just know that something isn’t quite right.

In my previous post, I mentioned how I’m trying to loosen up my style a bit. So I thought, why not apply this same attitude to a figure painting and see what happens? I started looking at various styles of figure paintings and found myself intrigued by the more abstract pieces that had only blank skin-toned ovals for “faces”. This made me realize that there’s no need to be super detailed to appreciate the human form or the painting itself.

I’ve had the idea to paint tango dancers for a while now. What an intense, sexy dance! And now that I had a strategy in place, I got my palette knives and got to work. I was focused more on the “energy” of the dance and the chemistry between the man and woman than I was about their details. I admit that I did find myself getting a little caught up with a few details but I was able to keep things in perspective. In the end, I now have a painting that I am very happy with and actually feel excited to paint more! This one may have just spurred an entire “Tango” series!

Title: Dancing Tango
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 16×20
Price: $295 – Buy now through my Etsy site!