Lost in Thought
- Pastel
- 16" x 12", artwork
- 23.5" x 1.59" x 1.75", framed
- Contemporary
$4,000
Provenance
Acquired by American Legacy Fine Arts directly the artist
Description
Tim Solliday created this beautiful contemplative pastel painting while studying anatomy with Steve Houston. One day when in class, Houston’s students received a task of doing a study of the female face features, skin and hair. The red-haired model, who posed for students that day, in Solliday’s opinion was a plain girl but there was an unexplainable attraction to her.
The model was posing outside of the studio, leaning against the garage door. It was an overcast day, cloudy and beautiful. The reflection of the deemed daylight made the young woman’s skin and face radiate. When Solliday finished sketching the figure, and started to layout the model’s face, suddenly an expression of deep contemplation on her face struck the artist. Solliday imagined she might have been thinking about her relationship at that moment; her face reflecting deep thoughts and questions.
Artist statement
“For me this painting is very much connected to my teacher Theodore Lukits’ practices. He did a lot of silent era movie stars’ portraits, beautiful and contemplative paintings of women that would reflect their thoughts and emotions.
In this case, besides the contemplative expression on her face, for me the model had that pioneer look to her; she looked like one of those women who came to the West with their husbands in wagons dreaming of building new opportunities for their families. The overcast day and the light made all the colors richer, making the model’s skin glow, bringing out the grey tints in every single area of the painting.
The woman’s emotional expression and contemplation reflected on her face is a link to my teacher Theodor Lukits’ practices and to ideas he taught. Lukits always said that if you know how to draw well and if an artist knows how to put down his work accurately, he can then concentrate on emotion, catch the expression on the models face better and put it down quicker”.
Exhibitions
"The External and The Contemplative" at American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena, CA, October 24-November 21, 2015
