Russian Dancer of the Red Socks circa 18th Century
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
Drawing figures dancing is an interesting venture in it of itself. It is not something that can be done properly by drawing from life. It is at this point where the camera comes into play. It can capture a moment in life, while the figure is in motion. It was admirable how it was managed in the old days.
Just think of how many times the little model had to twirl to help the artist. Well, old paintings had the preliminary sketches and the other sketches. Very few painters had genuine photographic memory. I only know of one that had photographic memory. He was a Russian painter known as Ivan Aivazovsky.
He produced over 3000 or so landscape paintings. It's nice to see someone who was so prolific. I am getting to be a tad prolific myself, but not to the skill level of this Russian Landscape artist. Now, as for this maiden, I was trying out something new. I had a little issue with the black skirt. I needed to add red to it, but I did not want to bother drawing around it.
I found my solution by adding paint on top of the pencil drawn skirt. It provided the effect I was looking for, without taking a long time. Acrylic paint works dandy, but I would not suggest relying on oil. Oil tends to take forever to dry. As for the movement of the skirt itself, I did not have to rely on photos. I have plenty of experience drawing skirts and other dainty things.
