Colored pencils on white, 50-pound, acid-free paper
March 2005
Dimensions: paper 10-7/8 inches (27.7 cm) high by 13-15/16 inches (35.4 cm) wide; image about 8-3/8 inches (35.4 cm) high by 10-7/8 inches (27.6 cm) wide
As a long Winter's ice and snow melt all around her, a woman leans back in the cool Spring water of a shallow mountain stream, her face and torso ablaze in the warm and welcome sunshine now pouring down through the trees. This peaceful, secluded pool may be her only place of true solitude, a secret sanctuary where she can escape the cares of the world.
Within the composition, the predominant cool colors of the stream and the forest alternate with the warmer colors of the figure's fit, athletic flesh, making all the colors seem the richer for the contrast and giving the scene exciting depth and energy. Similarly, the jagged edges of the trees makes the flesh of the figure look all the more smooth, by contrast.
(The figure in the drawing is adapted from a studio photograph by the brilliant European photographer Luc Selen, whose compelling photos can be seen at www.selen.be, and it is used with Luc Selen's very kind and gracious permission.)
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