Yoga pose V... another large canvas: I'm a glutton for punishment!

I selected this one for my last 36 X 36 canvas...

I think converging lines in the ceiling can add to the design. Hopefully, my process with this one will be less painful and more streamlined!

Update: I've decided to keep this one in the back burner for now. The foreshortened arm can be a challenge visually even if well rendered. An "easy street" solution would be to extend it sideways and get rid of the leg... but then it becomes like a typical dance pose. I need to think about this one!

Yoga pose IV - final step... from paint to matter in a circumvoluted manner!

After a number of pirouettes, I decided to call this one "done" ...

An interesting twist: my cumbersome multilayered approach led to some interesting discoveries in the area of textures and working with "matter" as opposed to paint. So even though this painting is a technical failure by my own definition, key learnings that emanated from the exercise may influence my future works...

Note to self: "I persisted with this one and I'm glad I did. Difficult paintings are a fertile ground for growth!"

Yoga pose IV - step IV... experimenting my way to oblivion!

Realizing too late that any background design would compete against the figure unless much lower in value, I decided to use this painting as a ground for experimentation...

... with the palette knife. In a way, I was forced to do some real painting, something I've managed to avoid as much as possible (favouring the image maker as opposed to the painter).

I will do a last pass to lengthen the hair to make a better balance with the upper body (I backed off to move forward again, trying to find better movement!) before calling it quit...

Yoga pose IV - step III ... still stuttering with this new pictorial language!

I feel I'm getting closer to my vision after 7 hours of work on this 36 X 36 canvas (not counting the thinking time!)...

... but would like more value variations on the background, and some subtle "smoothing out", corrections (e.g., forehead and neck areas) and color variations here and there.

I'm having a hard time with this mixed technique (i.e., getting what I want) and the klutz in me is reappearing stronger than ever as my painting process gets interrupted by sporadic "panic city" episodes... with colors dripping all over my shoes! I'm in the "no pain no gain" zone!

Note to self: "With these non vertical positions, working with a relatively small photo as opposed to a model, it would be easier for me to rotate the figure so that the head is in a vertical position... at least at the initial stage."

Yoga pose IV - step II ... doubled crossed and in trouble!

With this second quick pass with the palette knife (30 minutes), I tried to commit to the color scheme I had in mind... but only got half way there...

I was still trying to figure out some movement in the background... as I noticed the pattern of the central reinforcement bar from the stretcher (adding another cross pattern to the composition)... the result of over-enthusiasm with the palette knife!

A couple of hours of work in the afternoon led to this rather "rough on the edges" version...

I'd like to do something different than a blue black background (my specialty)... perhaps it's too much to ask for now! This one will make me sweat... I can feel it!

Yoga pose IV - step I... a textural dog's breakfast for now, but I'm starting to see the light!

I would like to leverage purples, oranges, reds and yellows with this one... but I'm still clueless about what to do with the background... as usual...

At this stage, I'm desperately looking for viable patterns of light to avoid having the armpit as focal point (reference photo)!

Meanwhile, I'm doubling as a carpenter (not my forte!) in an attempt to revamp a storage room in the basement after having gotten rid of a large defunct oil tank going back in the 50's. The extra shelves will allow me to have a more spacious area which I plan to use for epoxy varnishing...


... pretty simple design, I'll grant you that... but this is only like the "underpainting"!

Yoga pose IV... Getting ready to take another plunge!

I'd like to use a different color scheme for this one... but I'm not sure which one...

I'm taking a deep breath... while crossing my fingers!