Last Thursday I painted my very first outdoor nude. This took place at a ranch in a wee little Gold Rush town called Fiddletown. The ranch itself is very interesting. The barns are all full of graffiti and the resident artists are all very creative talented folks. The model herself is an artist as well. She lives on the ranch and gets to use the place as her studio in exchange for being a farmer... Anyways, she gave me a tour of the ranch, which is full of very enchanting little nooks and crannies. At the top of the hill there is a grove of gorgeous manzanita trees. It's a very enchanting feeling to get lost in the forest there. She took me to the "grandfather tree" which was much thicker and larger than the rest of them; there I shot her for a while.
Afterwards she took me to a secluded river (the location of which I have been sworn into secrecy) where we shot for a few hours. The location is incredible. The rocks which surround the river look like a shelf of books had been knocked over. It was quite a hike to find the most picturesque areas, but it was well worth it. There was an area which, on the account of all the heavy rains, was too deep and frigid to make it over there. I had seen pictures of the place she had told me about and the location looked amazing. The only way to get there was to wade through the stream over to the collection of rocks. But she was so enthusiastic I was almost convinced to follow her over there. So much that I took off my shoes socks and pants(still can't find those socks!). God, she was a trooper to wade waist-deep in that kind of water.
The series of paintings I am showing WIP's of here are from photos I took there:
After we got back to the ranch, I executed the painting of her from life which I unfortunately don't have here (I forgot it at Jason's place, doh!) but I will post up in the future. I can't thank her enough for the opportunity and inspiration she gave me, and I will be going back in the very near future to work with her again....
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