Two torsos

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Well, I have been pre-occupied for the past 3 or 4 weeks with big family visits, preschool searching and problematic paintings, but things are a bit more settled now so I thought I would start the week with posting two torsos that I painted in the near past. They are both oil on board. The "Stomach" is 24" x 19" and the "Torso with Sienna Background" is 29" x 22".

[Garth Herrick]

Two wonderful paintings! I am especially drawn to the Torso with Sienna Background for its simple elegant purity and form. Brancusi would have been proud to sculpt this!

Garth

[Marina Dieul]

Beautiful!
I especially love the stomach. It makes me think to those italian renaissance drawings.
I would call it " le nombril du monde " . It's a french expression: when someone thinks he's the center of the universe we say that he thinks he's the " world's navel"
And this navel is really the center of his universe .

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Garth, thank-you again. It's interesting you like the "Torso with Sienna Background". It's one of my husband's favourites too. I did feel like I was sculpting it when I was painting. They were both so calming to do. I did them very slowly and lovingly. A real break from the usual over-anxious state I usually paint in.

Marina, thank-you too. I did focus on the navel in the stomach. I loved the form and the play of light and shadow there. I would have painted that over and over if I didn't keep on telling myself that, professionally, I should finish the rest of the work. In fact it was meant to be a whole figure but I had such a feeling of it being complete when I finished around the navel, that I cut the painting down to just the stomach.