Licked Clean

If you're getting pummeled with these summer rain storms right now, I hope you're keeping as high + dry as you can!

A couple of weeks ago I finished up a painting (above) based on a photo of Lara Stone. My painting style tends to be a kind of impressionist very blotchy and show visible brushstrokes. I suppose I have heavy handwriting in my paintings. Normally when I try to break that rut, I end up being very precious with my paintings and resort to finger-painting -- rubbing around minute amounts of paint into oblivion.

 For this piece, I tried to challenge myself to neither blotch-paint nor precious-paint. I used moderate amounts of paint and blended colors/shades together (as much as I could using characteristically quick-drying acrylic paint) to attempt a "licked clean" look in the painting style. 

Compared to my standard work, the brushstrokes are relatively invisible here. As I painted I was thinking of licked-clean styles, like the work of Jacques-Louis David in his 1780 Académie d'Homme dite Patrocle below. 

Your position as the artist is distanced a bit if your handwriting is less present, I feel. This squeaky-clean brushstroke style and the bubble-gum-pink background contrast the (ahem) less-than-clean nature of the photo and of Lara Stone's reputation as that-curvy-yet-thin-model-with-a-significant-bust. After the jump, (click "Read More >>" below) some in-progress photos for you all:

 I used a gridded system to keep the proportions of the original photo - this painting was sort of a "rush job" and I didn't want an oddly sized nose to be terribly distracting.

And again, the final product:

20x24"

Acrylic on Canvas

Alice Taranto

June 2010

Enjoy it!

Alice

xAZDdesign

Licked Clean