FIGURE  ART

I have been creating figure art since I was in college: figure drawing, figure painting, figures in pastel, charcoal, and graphite, and finally, figures in collage and mixed media.  My figure art always begins with drawings from live models.  I start with media that are swift and sensual, and work quickly to capture the figure's body, face, expression, or mood.  Strong compositions and bold color characterize my figure art.  My stylistic inspiration comes from powerful realists like Michelangelo, as well as from masters of color and sensuality like Gauguin, Klimt, Matisse, Degas, and Van Gogh.  Although I do many different kinds of art, figure art has always been a mainstay, evolving with me over my lifetime as an artist.

The abstract figure art works above and below reflect my more abstract figure paintings. I love using color, form, and line to create simple, graceful sculptural shapes.  The figure abstract above is acrylic paint on paper; the figure below is done in latex and acrylic paint over an abstract charcoal drawing from the figure; I often mix charcoal with wet paint to create a sold but textured effect.  Both these abstract figure paintings and many others can be seen and purchased in my Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.  The image above is also available in prints.

My figure art often combines the figure with decorative patterns.  This leaves no doubt that the intent is to create an abstract interpretation, not a realistic one.  Use of patterns equalizes the figure and the background (positive and negative space) and flattens the image.  I like to be sure the viewer has something interesting to look at all over the picture.  I also often seek out foreshortened poses because the figure usually fits on the paper better, and also because such poses divide the figure into interesting abstract shapes that can be differentiated by lines, which I like.  This painting and similar paintings ares also available in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

Still focused on the abstract interpretation of figures, below I have worked several figures into a collage, energized with patterns.  In the figure painting above, the patterns are painted; however, often the patterns are made with collage.  I like to explore the tipping point between abstract and figurative art.  In this type of figure art, I am interested in the interplay of two and three dimensions.  As I frequently do, I emphasize the edges and lines; this "piecing" comes naturally from my sewing background. In this case I use irregular lines to make the image vibrate slightly and look a little unsettled.  This image pays tribute to Picasso's revolutionary Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, hence the name.  But I prefer to create something people can live with.  This figure collage and similar collages are available in the Other Figures exhibit.

Contemporary and modern art permit limitless experimentation.  There was no hope that this long, reclining figure would fit on one sheet of paper.  (It often happens that my figure turns out to be too big for the paper!)  So I drew it across two offset sheets of paper, and then transposed the two halves of the body.  This figure is a modern interpretation of the classic figure painting theme of the reclining odalisque.  As is often the case with my figure art, pieces of furniture from the figure drawing classroom provide unexpected compositional material.  This figure and similar figure paintings are available in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

My artistic life has always been interspersed with travels and photography.  A beach is always a good place for to see figures!  The figure painting below also shows my interest in including a "frame" in my art, which I do often.  I have worked for decades as a picture framer, and having seen a lot of unfortunate framing, I got to thinking that I'd like more control over the presentation of my art.  So when I can, I put my own "mat" into my art, which also greatly reduces the framing cost.  The interaction between the figure with the media is one of the features of contemporary figure art.  This painting joins other contemporary figures in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

I have always done realistic figure drawing and painting.  I enjoy realistic figure drawing and you can enjoy an entire exhibit full of them in my Realistic and Expressive Figures exhibit.  They range from very realistic drawings and paintings to more expressive works, in a range of media including graphite pencil, colored pencil, oil and dry pastel, charcoal, paint, and collage.  Below is a realistic colored pencil figure drawing done on spray-painted paper.  Spattered silver paint makes the surface sparkle, a technique I use in many of my more realistic figure drawings and portraits.  Even if the drawing is realistic, I want the figure to interact with the media, and create tension between the flatness of the art and the dimensionality of the figure.

Below is another very realistic figure drawing, in charcoal on latex-painted paper.  While the drawing above is light and lyrical, the figure below is heavy and solid; the media is opaque.  The model is tired and uninterested in the viewer, and the entirely unself-conscious figure segments itself beautifully.  Of course, when we use the term "realism" in contemporary art, it doesn't mean "realistic" like Renaissance painters or contemporary photo-realists use the term "realism."  Obviously realistic figures are not surrounded by lines and rarely sit in front of perfectly plain backgrounds.  In my case, "realistic" drawings are simply more realistic than abstract.  This figure drawing joins numerous other drawings in the Realistic and Expressive Figures exhibit.

While the figure drawing above is mostly dry charcoal over dry paint, the figure below is rendered with charcoal drawing mixed with wet latex paint.  This technique is highly flexible and the result is satisfyingly "heavy."  I sometimes joke that I know when a painting is done by how heavy it is!  The drawing emphasizes the sculptural forms of the figure, which is firmly embedded, physically and visually, in the pillows and other elements of the background.  This figure drawing is a contemporary interpretation of the classic pyramid art composition, the reference is slightly humorous due to its unlikely symmetry, and the mixing of such a classical composition with such a contemporary drawing.  The oversized legs in the foreground push back the undersized head and shoulders dimensionally, but then the drawing is flattened again by the background pattern and some other elements.  This figure drawing blurs the lines between abstraction and realism, and between drawing and painting.  It is also in the Realistic and Expressive Figures exhibit.

Another figure drawing below includes all the things I love: sensual, sculptural lines, patterns and other decorative elements, bulbous shapes, and furniture.  Along with a large dose of whimsy.  Much contemporary figure drawing is expressionistic, but I think this emphasis overlooks a lot of possibilities.  For me, figure drawings like this start out on large, smooth, ultra-white paper, which has been a standard for me for many years, because the pencil flows across it like ice.  This drawing and some similar figure drawings are found in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

The next art work is an oil figure painting on a canvas surface.  Again it includes everthing I like in painting: sensual lines, discrete shapes, colorful patterns, flattened surface, tension between two and three dimensions, sensual media--and a kitty.  What else do you need?  This figure painting is found with other figure paintings in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

Back to the beach with another figure painting, emphasizing line, pattern, and unique composition.  This "painting" actually uses a variey of collage materials.  The figure is painted, but every other part of the picture is filled in with collage of different decorative papers.  Again, the patterns are used to flatten the surface as well as to provide visual interest.  In my figure paintings and other art, I generally don't like to leave blank space where the eye can get bored.  This figure painting can be purchased in prints, and it is found in the Artist's Collection exhibit, while similar figure painting-with-collage art can be seen in the Decorative & Abstract Figures exhibit.

Among my figure art are a number of figure drawings of nudes that are erotic or semi-erotic.  Usually I try to play down the erotic aspect of the nude figure in my figure drawings and paintings, because I want people to feel comfortable hanging my figure art in their homes.  The nude figure drawing below is somewhat erotic, but it is still well within the realm of fine art figures.  This nude figure drawing is one of my quick warm-up figure drawings done on newsprint, and then mounted on acid-free art board.  Also this nude figure is "framed," although I broke the frame and let the figure spill out.  This nude figure drawing is more expressionistic than either realistic or abstract.  Other expressionist drawings and paintings can be found in my portaits exhibits and the Realistic and Expressive Figures exhibit.

Finally, another realistic figure, about as realistic as my figure art gets.  In this case the model brought her baby to class, which provided an interesting figure drawing subject.  The following figure is done in oil pastel on paper; I also did several less realistic charcoal drawings of the same subject.  In this figure work, I avoided drawing heavy lines and focused on the light sensuality of the figures and their soft, melding relationship.  The original figure drawing is available in the Realistic and Expressive Figures exhibit, and this figure drawing is also available in prints.