''In a clearing'' - original oil painting by @mayasky

Hello and good Monday!

I hope you are all having a good start to the new week.

Today i wanted to share a painting with you that has a very special place in my heart;

''In a clearing'', oil on canvas, size 50 x 70 cm.

This is another painting that I was reunited with on my travel back to Norway during Christmas. This one hangs on the wall as it is one of my favorite self portraits. I think this painting will be one of those that I'll never sell, but will follow me through life.

When I painted this portrait I was living in Sweden and apent a lot of time walking and running in the woods. I was greatly inspired by the works of Waterhouse and Zorn and really wanted to paint a model in nature for a long time.

I had painted a lot of paintings in natural light, but never a model in outdoor natural light. What happens when you paint someone outside is that the light source is all around and you don't get those dark shadowshapes that helps you describe the form.

Almost all my values were mid tone and the fact that I mainly worked from photo refrence didn't make it any easier.
I learned a lot about color temperatures during this project and the shifts in temperature really helped me describe form where I didn't have a lot of wiggle room with values.

The detail photo above of my foot and leg half way behind the leafs shows you one out f two of the hardes areas I had to face technique wise int he painting. I don't know how many times I painted this leg, but I think it was at least 20..

... And here is the other, hehe! The forshortening of this leg was driving me crazy. I just could not get it to read as a leg. Looking at it today it still doesn't feel right, but oh well.. hehe! I can tell you one thing though, I have no idea what I was thinking when I chose this pose. (!)

The white dress was the most fun! I had so much fun adding a bunch of texture in the lights and pushing it as bright as I could. On an exhibit I had where I showed this painting among others I overheard a lady tell her friend that; this painting didn't make any sense because no one would walk in the woods with a dress like that...

HA!

What a thing to fixate on.. It's always great fun to listen in n what people say about your art when they think you're not there though, heheh..

This painting was a bunch of fun and a bunch of frustration! I wanted to give up many times, but I never did and saw it through until the end, I think that's one of the reasons I like it so much. I always loved humans in nature in paintings though, so that for sure is another reason. I only made couple of paintings where I've put a person in nature and lately I've really wanted to give it another go.. :)

What do you think?

Do you have a prefered style of portraiture?

I hope you are all having a wonderful and creative start to the week!!

<3

https://www.instagram.com/marieblomfineart/