Monochrome nudes

This series of paintings are an experiment with altering the traditional focal points of portraiture. The figures compete with the brightly patterned fabric for the viewers attention. Working from black and white preparatory sketches of my models in charcoal or pencil i found by neglecting to add colour to the reproductions i gained an equally exciting medium - light. I have used the play of light and shadow to describe the figures in a manner which is much more reminicent of charcoal sketching than painting tecniques. By presenting the women as sculptural static object d'art lounging upon rumpled colourful fabric whose geometric patterns appear disrupted and chaotic i seek to invert the traditional notion of unrestrained fluid femininity in an ordered tidy universe. My women are fixed almost surrealy perfect in a visually confused context.