Three dancers crossing the stage Print

This work was created from sketches I made of ballet dancers rehearsing, crossing the stage one after another doing a set series of movements. My treatment of the dancers is inspired by Degas and the abstract background was inspired by Klee's colorist abstracts. In the oil paint, I tried to capture the essence of my charcoal sketches. The brown-black outlines of the figures are somewhat smeared in places like charcoal and there is an imperfect, sketchbook quality to the line drawings. On the dancer at right you can see where I originally made a line for the forward leg, then moved it. This painting has textured layers of oil paint; the white tutus are scumbled atop the abstract color squares beneath. It has a satin or semi-gloss finish and is luminous as the light reflects through the multiple layers of paint. There is a wide range of yellows and oranges, some muted and some intense. The indigo blue costumes provide a strong note of color contrast. This work is painted on an archival-quality canvas panel. It ships unframed. One of the photos shows what it looks like in an inexpensive frame that is a dark reddish-brown or espresso color.