While I am in London, I paint a few days a week with the Dulwich Art Group in south London, who have been most welcoming to me. During the model sessions there, I have been forcing myself to paint much more quickly than usual and therefore much more loosely. I read somewhere that - in any endeavor - if you aren't making yourself uncomfortable, you aren't working hard enough. Working quickly makes me uncomfortable. so I guess that here in London, discomfort is my goal!
This quick morning study is an experiment with a colorful background, in this case pink. The first paint strokes were difficult to read because they slid around on the rather smooth surface and the skintones were the same sort of color and value as the background. But I think it got better with thicker paint. I had a dark shadow color at first, but in the end I wiped it out and let the pink show through. Definitely an uncomfortable choice.
