Centerline acrylic portrait street dancer


                                                                  Centerline
                                                                     11"14"
                                                                    Acrylic
Centerline is the next of my performers series.  It is actually hard to believe this is #13 and I still have a few more I want to do.  I guess they say the right amount for a series is 20-25 pictures so I am on a good track to have a nice width for the series and probably it will end up about half dancers and half musicians.  It still amazes me also how quickly some of these have come out.

I enjoy doing these abstract painting backgrounds.   It usually takes me a day to do the background.   It also is kind of relaxing too to just put the paint on and then try to manipulate it around.  Most of these patterns were blown with a straw rather than a hair dryer.  I like this look as it can give you marbleization, blown splatters and interesting paint mixes.  A lot of the delicate paint patterns just don't show up here.  It started out that the centerline was going to be horizontal, but after drying, as I turned it around I liked this vertical position better.    Thought it situated the figure in a better position on the mat board engaging the background rather than having a big empty space if it was horizontal.    This morning the figure went in quickly, took about an hour to paint and then I could call it complete.

NELVIA's STORY - The Attack of the Palette Knife - no this isn't Halloween fiction!!

 Yes, I was attacked by my palette knife.  Well actually I was cleaning the sink after the background painting session.   Holding my palette knife in my left hand and I accidentally hit the palette knife with the heel of my right hand, right below the thumb.  It was a rather lengthy, if not deep gash.  Since I had just cleaned paint off with it and it wasn't sterilized I thought I better get a tetanus shot, while not sure I needed stitches.  Was needing the shot anyway, but hadn't gotten around to it quite yet.  Anyway, 3 stitches later (because in an area of so much movement the wound wouldn't heal well) I am on right-hand rest for the next 10 days until the stitches come out.  So trying to do all the heavy lifting with my left hand and now realize how much I use the right hand and thumb.  No, usually the palette knives aren't sharp, but in this case I use it to scrape my glass palette so I guess I have unknowingly been sharpening it as it really has a nice edge to it now.   So I will always be a little leary of that knife now that I know it can turn vicious.  

Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

Helen said…
OH, NO!!! Fabulous painting, but oh, my goodness! I literally felt an ache as I read the end of this!! Take care! Get that healed up!
I really like how you pulled the background colors on to the white of the performer . Hoping you heal quickly.
Sorry to hear about 'the attack of the palette knife' - glad it wasn't worse although being with out the use of your right hand is a real challenge - good luck! I like this piece! It has great movement and your dancer is just super. - well done, Nelvia!
Sheila said…
Happy and quick healing to you! What a bummer. This piece is great, all the energy and movement. And I love the color explosion to his right. It's Like BAM! from the music. Cool!
Joan Tavolott said…
Ouch! Sorry about your tangle with the palette knife. Hope it heals quickly.

I am loving this series of yours, both the dancers and the musicans. I just scrolled up to see how large this was. It looks like it could be a huge painting but I guess blowing paint on something too big wouldn't be practical. Love the sense of movement you get in the people and the backgrounds. Fantastic job!
Nelvia said…
Doing better as it is starting to itch so must be healing.
Nelvia said…
Love just putting paint 🎨 On and then manipulating it to see the happy accidents
Nelvia said…
Yeah I feel kind of stupid now, but will be more careful going forward. I like the background here is simpler but still shows movement, less competiti N for the figure
Nelvia said…
Oh I like that you can hear the music
Nelvia said…
These aren't,super big pieces, I am going to try on 20"x24", to me that is big

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