Thursday, September 1, 2011

Another dancer

"Dancing on the Plaza"
Mixed Media
18" x 13.5"

Our neighbors went on a Mexican cruise a while back and shared this snapshot of a beautiful woman dancing at one of their ports of call. Jim gave me permission to use his photograph in my art. I tried a full sheet of this dancer once using acrylic paint and I wasn't happy with it. I began this and decided to rework the background. I am using Arches 300 lb hot press paper here, which can take a lot of abuse. I did some scrubbing out and used some gouche and gesso along with my watercolor .

I enjoy painting dancers, and you can take the dancer label on the lower right frame to find other paintings I've done related to tango and gaucho dancing inspired by our South American trip. Bob and I have taken ballroom dancing lessons for several years and we often dance as many as four times a week. It's great exercise, fun, and a nice shared activity, like our travel and bicycling.

4 comments:

Marie Theron said...

So much colour, movement, joy and daring! You cannot get more Mexican than this, Mary!

Autumn Leaves said...

What a joyful piece, Mary! I love how much you and your husband do together. You must have a blast!

hw (hallie) farber said...

Hi Mary. I'm so glad you provided a link to your earlier dance paintings. I must have become a follower later--they are terrific (as is this one). You're good at this; probably because you know the moves.

My husband and I took ballroom dancing many years ago; he only remembered the fox trot--slow, slow, quick, quick. It was great exercise and I enjoyed it; I liked the cha-cha.

Mary Paquet said...

Marie, thanks -- I love Mexico and Guatemala with all the color.

Sherry, thanks -- yes, Bob and I do have a lot of fun.

Hallie, thanks. Being a dancer helps on the moves. We love the exercise and Bob, a musician, is just so into the dancing. Good thing I like it! He would probably trade me in if I didn't. Cha-Cha is lots of fun. We've been learning Viennese Walz lately and that is pretty vigorous!