Totem

huile sur toile, 116 x 89 cm.

Between horizontal and vertical, there is a nude woman reading. I painted this entirely with a three-centimeter-wide brush. The shadows of the volumes come from large, precise strokes. It requires a gesture that is both extremely free and precise, infused with intention. When it fails, you wipe it away and start again. This was the technique of the painter Carlos Pradal. I learned it by watching him when I was twenty.