Thursday, October 22, 2009

Barely There


Barely there, yet she encompasses every line, every movement, and every thing.
For she is the center from which all things come.
She is not without a face, she is in every face.




Barely There elbow-orange




Barely There elbow-pink




Barely There inside elbow-pink




Barely There knee-orange




Barely There knees-tan




Barely There knees-yellow




Barely There shoulder-grey




Barely There thigh-tan




Barely There thighs-maroon




Barely There thighs-pink





These are some brand new nudes. I tried something different, wherein I simplified. The economy of movement with watercolor. These ten are the whole series, Barely There, which were painted two days ago. thigh-tan is interesting because it is the smallest, and so I made it the closest cropped shot of the bunch. I think this one is interesting because it illustrates that these lines can be anything, a hillside, horizon, and yes, even a body part. They are one in the same, land and body.

So yes, she's 'barely there', in terms of color and line, but her body also spans the whole breadth of these images. In essence, these paintings show that 'she' is in fact, the whole of the world; her body, the continents. She may seem diminished in some ways, but she is still portrayed here as 'everything'. It's a good metaphor for women in society today, I think (but maybe I'll have to check with vag to be sure).

Mighty is Her reach...

9 comments:

Vag said...

for some reason i want to lick thigh-tan.
i love this whole concept.

Luther von Wolfen said...

ah...now i see why 'barely there'. its about what i thought you meant. i enjoy, but what about 'neck'?

all ways 11 o'clock said...

this series is very very strong...

shana goetsch said...

wes- the neck one didn't turn out how i liked...it was there for a bit, i think it's on the back of something.

appolinaire's tattoo- thanks so much for the excellent comment! i'm hoping it is.


(i do nudes and the mens come running)

Vag said...

they really do come runing in hordes.

Momo Luna S!gnals said...

I like this idea a lot, these are wonderful....

shana goetsch said...

thank you so much. i love working with the human body.

artbymonimack@gmail.com said...

I think these are really great. I enjoyed the Barely There elbow-orange. So I can see they are watercolor but are the lines on the outside made with like conte crayon?? or something else?

How big are these?

Where you make a series do you kinda work no them all at the same time??

Do you start with a sketch in pencil? of kinda freehand it with the water color?

shana goetsch said...

no sketches, just a scored watercolor...and i just GO. all quick gestures of my own body. i did them in a few hours one day. a quick, coherent series. the idea was easy, so it was easier to create.

a different series may take me several months though, and i'll work on other things in between. depends what i want to portray/say, the level of backstory, the amount. metaphors, etc. how much i put into the message will take longer.

these were quick though. they are kind of small. varied sizes. they all fit on a home scanner though.

you ask a lot of questions moni, whew! thanks for all the interest.