“The Tahitian Dancers”
size: 36×24 , on canvas, ready to hang.
medium: acrylique and extra heavy gel gloss.
I like oranges and reds and yellows. So I used those for the background. I painted the silhouettes in dark brown, so we would not be distracted by looking at real faces. It’s about the dance not the person. So far I liked what I got.
This was my first attempt. It was okay, but I did not like the size of the dancers. They were too small and the colors of the grass skirts were too light.
I liked the young dancer peaking from in between the other two, but her skirt blanded too much, I had to change it, may be in a red…
I liked the colors, but I am not finished yet.
I was playing with some colors, added the flowers, but I was not happy with it yet. The dancer in the middle still needed to be addressed.
I like the movement.
Subtle changes here. It’s coming along nicely.
It’s almost done. The girls have their dance hats. In real life they are made with weaved leaves. The flowers are in their hair and around the neck and the belt on their grass skirts have added babbles. I am real happy so far.
The young dancer now has her red skirt and the older one beside her has a deep yellow skirt. For both, I used the gel gloss for added texture and richness of color. It was a first for me to use that medium and I liked it. I used it on the green hats on some of the girl’s head.
The project is finished. It brought me a lot of pleasure to do. A lot of memories are tied to this.
My mom had some dishes that she brought back from Tahiti for me and my sister. We had a certain kind reserved for each one. My sister had the french set of dishes and I the chinese set. A few years ago, a hurricane hit Tahiti. My sister’s dishes remainded intact, but mine were all destroyed but for a few pieces, so maman brought me, along with them, one tahitian glass that had survived the wind. We used those glasses some 40years ago for special diners. They had this old pattern of dancers on it, beautiful… that’s how this painting came about.