Naked lady portrait study

Every now and then I have naked people come by the studio and sit still for a couple of hours.
This lovely naked person posed for two sessions and I did this little portrait study of her.

Something that's kind of interesting about painting from life, is that it's a performance. There's somebody else there, you have a brief window of time to act, it has a distinct middle, beginning and end, and you have to really focus. By contrast, painting from reference material can take as long as it takes, so there isn't such an intensity to it.

It's a valuable practice, helping to enliven all of my paintings.


(click to enlarge)