Gretchen

Yesterday, I said that underneath every good painting is a good drawing. It is also true that underneath every good figurative work is a good nude. Clothes in a painting have to cover a true form and the best way to understand the form is to study anatomy and the nude figure.

Once when I was painting a portrait, my son brought his girlfriend into the studio and I said, "Whew! I just finished painting his clothes on him; that could have been embarrassing!" and she said, "Really? You paint them naked first?" It was funny, but then the next time she visited, I was painting a nude. She said, "Will you get her clothes finished today?" I had to look at her and see the twinkle in her eye before I knew that she was teasing me back.