Perfectly poised: the inspiration behind my latest ballerina flower tutu painting

"Perfectly poised": that's what I thought when I first saw Kristen's photo in my social media feed. I rarely paint from reference photos. But there was something enchanting about the photo so I approached Kristen for permission from herself and the photographer to use this photo for a painting.

That was three years ago, mid 2022. Some paintings have a long incubation. I knew the pose, I knew the feeling I wanted to convey ... but there was missing piece: a theme that would do justice to the joyful grace of Kristen's perfectly poised photo.

Sometimes the pieces fall into place when you stop overthinking the quest. In this case, I'd had a good start to my day in the studio. I was working on the seascape and flower meadow paintings that were already in progress. I had quite a lot of leftover oil paint on my palette. Decided it would make a good backdrop for a dancer, so nabbed a sheet of canvas paper to use up the paint. 

I always have a shortlist of paintings I want to prioritise. Doing something with this long-saved beautiful reference photo was on the list, as were more flower tutus. I'd snapped some purple poppies spotted on campus earlier in the summer with tutus in mind. An impromptu decision to bring the two projects together: this tutu might work for Kristen. Both perfectly poised and graceful: the ballerina and the summer bloom. Plus, the purple petals would be offset by the subtle hues awaiting on the palette. Floral theme: tick.

I created a backdrop with touches of blue, pink and lilac. Subconsciously, I think this soft style of ballet background is inspired by childhood memories of the photo-studio backdrop that the Cape Town ballet company used for many of their programme cast photographs. Although I do recall a phase when all their backdrops were boldly blue.  

One of the key reasons I usually avoid working from reference images of dancers is that dance, and my approach to painting dancers, is all about capturing movement.Copying a static image isn't a good starting point for conveying movement. Plus, my painting style is gestural and expressive rather than photo-realistic. I want to paint how dance feels. If I agonise over getting a likeness "right", I'm liable to end up with a very stilted result. But for once, this challenge wasn't part of the process.

What made this image different to work with is all the conversational exchanges about dance, Kristen and I have shared over Instagram. This personal connection makes all the difference. It's less about "copying" the photo and more about capturing the essence of our shared love of dance and joie de vivre.

Another challenge I embraced in this creation was the delicacy of the poppy. I wanted to convey the sense of the petals floating on the breeze and the way well-made dance costumes move on stage. Oil paint is typically heavy. My love of paint and texture makes it easy to lose the necessary lightness of a tutu and translucent petals.

Luckily, experimenting with liquin (a medium for oils) enables me to thin the oil paint and let the brushwork glide and flow. There are some subtle, raised textures in this painting. I added tiny bits of texture with some of my favourite upcycled household gadgets to capture the dimensionality of the delicate stamens and pollen within the poppy centre and the embellishment on the beaded bodice.

It was a joy to paint. And certainly worth the long incubation. Happy to confirm that Kristen loves her painting too (and has asked to reserve it while it dries). Grateful for the inspiration and our virtual friendship. Thank you!