On My Hands

This painting is based off a photo of Graham Kaplan who is a very talented dancer currently training with Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, BC. It was created using watercolour paint and India ink pens. 
I recently went through a period of stagnant creativity. It happens from time to time and generally leaves me feeling frustrated and generally uninspired. This particular photo reference kicked me back into my creative mode and got my artistic juices flowing again. 
I like that this particular moment is casual but the pose is refined and gives insight into the studio atmosphere of a dancers training. This is the first in a series of studio poses I will be doing. While dancers are known for their few moments on stage the real magic happens in the studio and it is my goal to depict the hard work and dedication that every dancer exhibits there.

This painting is availible for purchase at:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/105666339/on-my-hands

Dance Sketch 11

Dance Sketch 11 

I actually like this sketch. I enjoy the selective colour and the paint dripping down onto her dress as well as the various tangents of meaning that it has for me. I feel like I could write a full artist statement on this but I will save it for the finished version as this is merely a practice sketch.

Dance sketch #5

Dance #5 is inspired by the dancing of Ashley Sweett and talented photographer Patou Lauwers. This drawing was created using graphite, pen and water colour paint. I played with the pleats in the dress giving this drawing more movement.

This is the second sketch in this series based on Patou Lauwer's photography. Checkout the first sketch in this series!

Dance Sketch #8

Much like the dance world my sketchbook has very few male dancers in it. I truly love the defined muscle tone of  male dancers and enjoy both watching and drawing them in action. Perhaps one day I will inspire some young boys to go take a dance class!
 I decided to document my process for Dance sketch #8. I started out with a detailed pencil drawing of the dancer and then began to plan out the background. I painted it in with water colours and then outlined and accented the illustration in pen. 

Dance Sketch 7

This drawing was created using pencil, pen and water colour paint. Since summer has yet to visit the west coast I thought I would put her in a bright flower garden.

Dance 6

This Sketchbook entry plays with warm colours to compliment the dancers skin tones and scarf. I really love this particular pose however I had to alter her feet a little because her right foot was sickling and her left was barely pointed (if you are a dancer you understand my passion for pointed feet). Feet are something I need to spend some more time on so expect to see some fantastically arched ones in the near future!

Dance #4 sketch

I recently experienced a period of time where I lost my creative vision. I woke up one morning and found my art to be void of meaning and depth. I have experienced this artists block many times before but I really hate how it makes me feel. I have decided to refocus on dance art (which was where I started when I first began to take my art seriously) using this blog to document my progress. I want to create passionate work with depth and movement and experiment with different combinations of mixed media.
Dance #4 is inspired by the dancing of Ashley Sweett and talented photographer Patou Lauwers. This drawing was created using graphite, pen and water colour paint.The background was inspired by the draping of her dress and hopefully creates a sense of fluid movement giving this somewhat static pose a sense of life and vibrancy.
This is the first sketch in this series based on Patou Lauwer's photography.