Let's dance! (the story of a painting)

This little painting kind of took me by surprise as it appeared very quickly; I usually work quite slowly and take ages to finish a piece of work.  

I take photos as I go along because it helps me to see the painting in a different way.  The camera shows you things that you don't necessarily see with the naked eye.  Because I have a series of photos I thought I would show its development step by step.

I chose a canvas I had already prepped with an underpainting of bright colour and then started to unearth the images already contained in the paint and colour.  I liked the movement in the brush strokes of the underpainting and I wanted to keep that energy.  

I was drawn to finding and painting images of the goddess or feminine energy;  I have worked with the goddess for a long time now and the muse usually (though not always) points me in this direction. 

Different elements such as the trees started to appear.  Orange and blue/green quickly established as the dominant colours. 

I found I wanted to keep the yellow architectural elements and the blue organic swirls at the top of the painting.  The figures became more established and the foreground more developed.  The figures needed some more definition and presence but I like that they are all very different and doing different things.  The final step is sharpening and tidying up.

Painting finished!

What artiness have you been up to this last week?  I would love to hear from you.

From my dancing goddess heart to yours

Rachel xox