I have been trying to draw the human figure for over 20 years, but I have not painted figures very often. I think part of the trouble had to do with composition. I always used to look at figure drawing as only an exercise, trying to learn proportion, movement and expression, but not thinking in terms of a whole painting. Lately I have been painting figures every Tuesday at the S12 Gallery and Studio at least once a week.

I have decided that painting figures is not as different from painting landscapes as I had thought. I usually don't have too much trouble in deciding what parts of a landscape to put in the painting and what parts to alter or leave out. The same can be true for the figure. I was concentrating so hard on the figure, I forgot about the painting. Trying to paint the whole figure is in itself a troublemaker for the composition. The figure attracts too much of the attention. I think it is better to either include part of the figure only, or to partially lose the figure in the rest of the structure. 

A few weeks ago, I spent over two hours working on "Just Thinking", a full figure facing away from me. 



Then I moved around to the other side. I started with the forearm and hand, and in less than a half hour I painted 'Say Again', which I think is a much better painting. Using a smaller piece of paper to work on I managed a much more focused composition.