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The best not quite that I’ve ever seen

During the Coronavirus lockdown which is still ongoing, I am not expecting commissions to come in, or much interest in art, which I don’t mind, as it gives me chance to firstly concentrate on my garden projects, and secondly to paint whatever I feel like painting, as there is always a long list of artwork I want to do..! 

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a photo with a comment from the sender about it might be an idea for a picture, and then they informed me that it wasn’t exactly what was wanted and they’d get back to me with a new idea..the thing is I was so struck on that photo I knew it would make a good painting. So, it was with a tinge of regret that I put the image to one side and awaited the other image. But the first image kept calling back to me, and I thought, well I love it, I’ll do it for the fun of doing it. 

Because the good thing about the photo was, it was perfect. There was nothing I needed to add other than changing the background a little. 

Over the bank holiday weekend, where I wasn’t going anywhere, like everyone else at the moment, I decided to paint it. 

I found a suitable piece of artboard 18x 14 inches, and drew out the image in pencil, made sure I’d got the only verticals in it, parallel and vertical, and then drew the rest of the image, and I know we’re stuck in lockdown and everyone has to wear masks when they go out in public, but the mask in this painting was the best sort, the sexy sort, a Venitian feathered mask, and with the way the photo was it took up the whole of the left hand bottom corner, adding the air of mystery to the dancers face. The only item of clothing she was wearing was so thin that it hardly showed against her skin, but I wanted the black of it to be clearly black and not to be mistaken for anything other than her outfit. The pose itself leaning back towards the viewer was so ideal the way it showed the negative space around her. The background had to be kept so vague with no hint of anything else around her as the the pose, the pole, the mask, told the whole story and any other hint of background would have detracted from that fabulously sexy energetic pose. 

I painted the whole picture in acrylics, and it was started and finished over two days. 

The mask adds the air of mystery to it. The fact its in the foreground means you look straight at it, and look beyond the set face for the features of the woman wearing it, but her face is fully covered. I love this picture for the fact the body is hardly wearing anything and yet the mask is creating the mystery. 

I love the fact the gold of the mask was similar golden colours to her body, and the black feathers of it matched her black outfit, and the only white in the picture is the mask itself and the white reflections on the pole. The only red is the red of the mouth on the mask. 

Its such a powerful image, of sexy woman, and sexy pole dancing. Inviting, and yet hidden! 

I loved adding the hint of movement in the background colours, as I picked up the colours and hues I’d used for her body in the blues of the background, which made the picture come alive rather than the static background of one colour, and just adding a few flicks of paint by the black of the feathers on the mask added to that feeling of movement too. 

I’m calling the painting “Pole dancing perfection” because I think it is!

You can see why I was so taken with the negative spaces around her body, it adds so much to the pose.