3 minute read
The Northern Nudes
Since my student days spent painting in the Life Rooms at the Slade in the 1970s I have always returned to painting the Nude. These works are not paintings from life but are experiments with design, form, line and colour worked up from life drawings and memory in the studio. They are painterly experiments using a limited cool Northern palette.
In this article I will try to explain the route taken over the years since those early student days in the Life Rooms painting Nudes in a style strongly based on the tradition of the Euston Road School.
I was fortunate to spend 3 weeks on a life painting course with Sir William Coldstream, who had just retired as Slade Professor and he introduced me to the mysteries of trying to capture skin tones, poses and the human spirit through careful looking, measuring and loose brush strokes of muted colours reflecting the cool North facing studio windows. The ever present electric heaters, to keep the models warm, used to intrude menacingly but added a certain tension to the space.
A visiting artist Victor Willing set a pose for the model between blocks of Manganese Blue and Lime Green which livened up the otherwise rather drab cavernous studio with it’s white walls, heater and storage racks. The model seemed almost rosey in complexion, this was a different experience altogether, and this in retrospect probably set me on my journey trying to paint the Nude.
Life Painting 1978 oil on canvas 18”x 36”
Reclining Model 1994 oil on board 24”x 26”
I used the motif of the figure to experiment with paint and colour, abstracting and fragmenting compositions while still trying to keep the human touch.
Crossed 1997 oil on board 17”x 14”
Seated Model 1994 oil o n board 13”x 11”
Leaning 1997 oil onboard 18”x 15”
Sunlight 1998 oil on canvas 12”x 12”
Prancing Figure 2003 oil on canvas 16”x 8”
Rainbow Figure 1997 oil on board12”x 7”
A fascination with the infinite shapes that the human figure could offer opened up a huge assortment of designs on which I could experiment with paint and colour harmonies.
Orange Hair 1999 oil on canvas 16”x 16”
Colour Harmonies 1998 oil on canvas 36”x 30”
Over the years I kept working on the paintings trying to resolve and move forward.
Seated Nude on Blue 1996 oil on canvas 48”x 40”
Spontaneous and sometimes rough life drawings became central to my working process again.
Life Drawing 2008 6”x 10”
Twisting Nude 2009 oil on canvas 8”x 12”
I was beginning to realise that the Nude can be interpreted with many different moods
Life Drawing 2008 10”x 6”
Red Nude 2018 w/c 6”x 3”
Life Drawing 2008 6”x10"
Back 2018 Ink and w/c 3”x 6”
