#308 "Jump!"

Another small study for a larger piece. The final size of the piece that I planned on doing from this one kept growing as I painted this small study. There was so much I loved about his shot. All too often figures in paintings are stagnant, posed, lifeless. The boy in this is the antithesis of all of those things. Nothing posed about it. As I started the figure was the primary focus but as I kept painting and moving, removing, and adding elements to the piece, color became the focus. At the end of the day as the sun drops the color become more intense and the shadows more pronounced. The boy's back had a glow that just popped and the water seemed to have millions of violets and greens mixed into the blues and oranges. Paintings like this are a splash of cold water on the senses, most specifically the visual one!