St. Marten Suntan
St. Marten Suntan
24 X 36
2007 / #7
I painted this piece after our most recent cruise vacation. St. Maartens is one of the most beautiful of islands and we always make a point to go to Orient Beach. (Notice the take out carton of oriental food.). Adjacent to Orient Beach is a nudist resort that shares the sea and sand. Uninitiated tourists get a bit of shock their first time to the beach. Such encounters do not faze us at all. My husband checks out the C-section scars and I marvel at the shapes and shadows of human form. Life drawing class 101 without having to pay a dime.
These two characters are typical of resort guests. The tour guides always make the same lame jokes about unpressed birthday suits and so on, but people are people. Two kinds, male and female, beyond which there is not much difference. One can tell who has been a long term guest and who is new to the scene, by the tan lines. I wanted to play with that idea, but keep the image decent in a way. It is not a painting about nudity; it is about light and dark skin patterns and strategic composition. It is about real bodies and real situations. I wanted comfortable people so the viewer would feel comfortable about it too. Once your attention gets past the fact that they have no clothes on, you look to the interaction of the male character and the gals in the water. That is where the story lies. Is he new and feeling his oats, or meeting up with old friends? If you check out the tan lines carefully, you will see that she has removed her wedding ring. So what is the real story here? See folks, it is not just clothing that can hide ones inner secrets, even naked, there are things which lie underneath.
24 X 36
2007 / #7
I painted this piece after our most recent cruise vacation. St. Maartens is one of the most beautiful of islands and we always make a point to go to Orient Beach. (Notice the take out carton of oriental food.). Adjacent to Orient Beach is a nudist resort that shares the sea and sand. Uninitiated tourists get a bit of shock their first time to the beach. Such encounters do not faze us at all. My husband checks out the C-section scars and I marvel at the shapes and shadows of human form. Life drawing class 101 without having to pay a dime.
These two characters are typical of resort guests. The tour guides always make the same lame jokes about unpressed birthday suits and so on, but people are people. Two kinds, male and female, beyond which there is not much difference. One can tell who has been a long term guest and who is new to the scene, by the tan lines. I wanted to play with that idea, but keep the image decent in a way. It is not a painting about nudity; it is about light and dark skin patterns and strategic composition. It is about real bodies and real situations. I wanted comfortable people so the viewer would feel comfortable about it too. Once your attention gets past the fact that they have no clothes on, you look to the interaction of the male character and the gals in the water. That is where the story lies. Is he new and feeling his oats, or meeting up with old friends? If you check out the tan lines carefully, you will see that she has removed her wedding ring. So what is the real story here? See folks, it is not just clothing that can hide ones inner secrets, even naked, there are things which lie underneath.