The completed "Pool" painting

"Pool"
2013
oil on canvas
24 x 24 inches

I'm really happy how this piece turned out, and am quite surprised at how quickly it came together. I think it's one of my strongest compositions, and I like that it's a little eerie. :) I think it has an air of mystery behind it: "Is she alive? Is she dead? What's the story?".

The real story, of course, is that this was a photo taken of me by my friend, Catriona, while we were in Hawaii together in June. I was relaxing in the pool - floating in the water, with my toes gripping on the edge of the infinity pool. According to Catriona, I was floating like this for 20-30 minutes! I was so relaxed, and was in a meditative state - I had no idea how long I had been floating. I love that she captured that moment of bliss in a photograph.


The original photo

I loved the photo that she took, and thought it might make a great painting composition. I popped it into Instagram, cropped it, and put a filter to it.


The cropped photo with filter

Today was only my third painting session of working on this piece. It somehow moved so quickly!


Week One


Week Two

Today, I spent most of the time putting a bright blue glaze over the water. It brightened up the piece from the previous session and blended in the blues nicely. I also worked a bit on the pool ledges - clarifying both the shapes and the colors. I did a bit more work on the figure, which I'm quite proud of. I'm really pleased with how the face, hands and feet turned out on this one. I may try to do more painting with figures.


week Three - Complete


Detail