Painting the human body has been a common subject of painters probably since the first caveman drawings. The old masters certainly painted and sculpted nude figures of all shapes and genders. The term Rubenesque was coined to describe nude females painted by 16th century v Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens that were nicely described as plump or rounded in a pleasant manner. As a relatively new artist, I felt the need to try my hand at this age old practice. So below you can see a little nude study that my wife named Thelma, because I spent so much time painting her that she deserved a name. She would not be described as Rubenesque, but I think she turned out pretty well for my first figure study.
Thelma, Oil on 8”x10” plywood panel
I’ve shied away from painting portraits or including people in my landscape paintings. Getting an accurate likeness in a portrait is much more difficult than painting a nice landscape. No one cares if a tree or hill isn’t perfectly accurate, but if you mess up painting someone’s body or face, the result can be at best a bad likeness and at worst someone looking disfigured. As a painter that is an area I want to work on in the future. It would be nice to be able to paint an accurate likeness of my granddaughter as she grows up.
There are certainly a lot of fine artists doing portraits on the Sketchbook blog. Hopefully I can be one of them in the future. Look for posts in the future where I give this a try.
