Odette on stage: ballerina painting

Blue painting with delicate ballerina figure in white swan costume poised gracefully en pointe.

Medium: Original acrylic painting on cotton canvas 

Dimensions: 10 by 12 inches (approx.)

Completed: 2019

Artist notes: I studied a bit of photography as an undergraduate with Montgomery Cooper (who had taken a lot of the ballet photographs I'd admired in the press and ballet souvenirs as a child). Monty taught us about pushing the film for low lighting conditions (like live events). I wasn't very good at photography but he gave me a better understanding of why the lighting was so magical in all those vintage ballet books I loved so much. My very first white against blue ballerinas (painted in 2009) were intended to try and recreate the contrast of pushed film in paint. Exploring the relationship between stage lighting, form and movement is an on-going quest in my dance paintings. There's something magical about theatre lighting. As a member of the audience, I've been known to miss some of the dancing as I get distracted studying the lighting on stage.