Figures

As with the cows, teasing out the aliveness and state of mind is important in painting people, too. Can you reveal with their gestures or expression what may be going on, what they are doing or thinking? Are they engaging in past-time leisure or looking at you directly? Even when a figure has their back towards you, you can attempt to express a state of mind by relating their posture to it. This requires great sensitivity of observation, aside from the painting skills needed. Whether figures are the main subject or form part of a context, they always read as ‘narrative’.