A Pause

With the underpainting complete, [21] it is possible for the first time to get a sense of what the final painting might look like. The sun-struck skin colors need to be warmer, the pair in the center can come a foot or two closer, and the shoulder-line of the back should slope down more towards the knees of the lower-right figure. That will make the center more the apex of a pyramid based on the foreground. The two figures on the farthest left (one dancing, one reclining) both have heads that are not on their shoulders. The god needs to be darker against the bright field behind him. What color are the figures dancing in the open field?

#21

The vegetation needs to be more enveloping, with more and darker cast shadows as on the figures in the lower right. The idea of the wild vs. cultivated grapes is there. Should there be a cluster of grapes upper right?

Between now and summer, some of these ideas will be worked out in drawings. For the final approach, canvas boards will be prepared with color roughed in to take to the park. There on a sunny day I’ll try to catch the look of dancers half in dappled shade.

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