Tuesday, January 25, 2011

"Allegro", 11x14, oil on linen, paintings of dancers, solo dancers, contemporary dancers


"Allegro", 11x14, oil on linen

I painted this back in the summer when I was preoccupied with the BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. I took it out over the weekend and defined a few passages that seemed too vague. I am very happy with this painting now - it makes me think of how much I enjoyed dancing once upon a time.

I love ballet. It is so beautiful. But there is something incredibly strong and athletic in contemporary dance that is a bit harder to detect in ballet, which when done correctly appears so effortless that strength and athleticism become invisible to the untrained eye.

Not sure if any of that makes sense. At any rate, I miss ballet class. Hopefully there's a ballet class somewhere in heaven, waiting for me, with my bunions and bad knees, and taught by Margarita de Saá, my favorite teacher, ballerina extraordinaire, and a beautiful and compassionate human being as well.

This painting is not for sale at the current time.

3 comments:

Karla said...

This is absolutely beautiful! You have really nailed getting the legs and arms to have depth in space.

Susan Roux said...

I love this painting. You did a marvelous job!

Paintdancer said...

Karla and Susan, I really appreciate your kind words. I felt like I did a good job with this one, too, and normally I'm not happy with my work.