Saudade No2

She is looking at something that has sparked a memory; a passing cloud, a stranger's face; or was it dreamed?

Saudade No2 takes a non-traditional point-of-view: face looking upwards  from the bird's eye with a background that suggests sunny and warm but nondescript. Her expression is touched with regret ( a handmaiden of yearning and desire); what has she seen? Was it another passer-by, a cloud, or light reflecting from a storefront window that sparked a remembrance of choices made that led to missed opportunity.

Palette is the same as Saudade No1, but the application of color is broader. In this painting I limited the sculpting to her dress, but my usual textural is evident in the figure and background.

Going to take the next week over Christmas to ponder Saudade No3 the last in my tribute to my late teacher. Feel free to comment or better still follow my blog!

Title: Suadade No2
Media: Acrylic, Interference, Oil, Textile on Canvas
Size: 30 x 20

Saudade No 1

Having spent more than three months on the Rift mural and  Emergence maquettes which are symbolic-abstractions, I felt a need to return to figurative imagery. The Portuguese word Suadade  [which in English roughly means an unrequited yearning for the unattainable] is my starting point for three paintings which I am dedicating to my late teacher and mentor George Harris.

George Harris was a member of the Royal Water Colour Society and an apprentice of Diego Rivera. As a young man, he worked with Rivera to paint the murals in Coit Tower in San Francisco. I learned the craft of figure painting from George; sure he would appreciate them!

Saudade No 1 is a classic "studio" pose with a lighting twist. While the palette predominantly sepia  and Van Dyke brown, the spot turquoise, rose madder and Venetian yellow carefully punctuate the mood. She is reflective: memories of things foregone, things that might have been, choices not made and made, modeled in her hair. A crown of heavy thought accented with interference pigments.



Title: Suadade No 1
Media: Acrylic, Interference, Oil, Textile on Canvas
Size: 30 x 24