Dancing Towards a Figurative Breakthrough, Part 1 of 4

Dancing Sprite in Purple and Orange. Original oil painting on canvas, 8” x 10”, © 2012 Tiffany Davis-Rustam.

Previously most of my signature paintings have been more or less strictly abstract in nature, that is with little if any representational form. That’s mainly because I love creating new forms so much that I have little patience depicting realistic figures and nature.

Recently however, while discussing composition with my friend & seasoned painter Roderick Smith, he impressed upon me the depth of  fascination with drawing figures from life. Once you involve a human figure in a painting for example, suddenly there is a narrative story that develops within it. I can see this evidence for myself, as viewers I’ve met tend to identify more with paintings that have a person in them. How many times have you seen a painting like that and automatically insert your own identity into it?

Breakthrough drawing sketches, from the top left to the bottom right.

So, this inspired me to start drawing more. I haven’t drawn as much in the past, because I just want to move on to the colors right away— impetuous artist! But I was compelling to study the human body at it’s most dynamically beautiful shapes—dancing! The movement and energy of dancers leaping across the air was fascinating to me, and as I looked and sketched I started to find geometric shapes in the limbs and arcs of these limber bodies.

Suddenly I was finding a unique way to simplify and abstract human figures that really excites me. I suppose I’d started to abstract form a while ago, but it was only in this series of dancer studies that it hit me, and it felt like a big breakthrough!

Above is the first of 4 painting studies I’ve done, to be followed by 3 more in the next 3 days. To the right is the initial drawing where the creative switch flipped on for me. What do you think?

The original painting is now sold, but prints are available here.