Last Dance, Acrylic on canvas board, 16" x 20", 2012

I made another attempt at painting a figure this weekend. I have had this “picture” of a woman dancing in my head  forever and I just can’t get it out onto the canvas. This is my most recent attempt. Nope! Not there!

So, back to my comfort zone. I dug out an old photograph that I shot years ago at Lakota Wolf Preserve of an arctic wolf. This time I changed things by trying a new surface, something called Gessobord, It’s interesting! Very smooth, not texture, just a hint of tooth. I used brushes and a palette knife. While it was a lot of fun to paint, I’m not completely sure I love the result. It is definitely better up close and in person than in a photo. It is hard to capture the texture and the subtlety of color. I may go back and rework it a little bit when I get past my “figure drawing frustration”. We’ll see…

Autumn Frost, Acrylic on Gessobord, 16" x 20", 2012