Casey Baugh

This is one of the the most visual stunning paintings that I have seen in recent months and it is by an artist named Casey Baugh. Baugh is a former student of Richard Schmid and from what I have ready, Baugh moved to where Schmid lived and studied in his studio, learning HOW Schmid painted, but strayed from his teacher in WHAT he should paint. Baugh seems to be primarily a figure painter, and from what I have seen...he's good at it. There are two things I would like to focus on in this painting, body language (or more generally figure positioning) and as with Lipking's post, brushwork. Anyone who has ever been within two feet of a woman would recognize how real Baugh has depicted this woman. She leans away from something (or someone) to the left of the canvas, yet arm outstretched, gaze afixed, it setups a dicotomy, which to me, perfectly depicts the nature of women. The diagonal lines of the body from hand to shoulder and the parellel leg/shoulder positioning juxtaposed against the verticles of the chair and her head/core set up a great dynamic in what might otherwise be a static sitting in a chair pose. The brushwork also accentuates this dynamic "movement" by creating these soft edges of the blouse and her hair, setting up this vibration which implies movement. It is like the stop motion animation of the past. It always appeared static, even though there was movement until computers were invented that simulated motion blur. Motion blur occurs in the human eye in which when something is in motion, the eye does not register all the detail in the spam of time from when it is stationary through the movement and on to become stationary again. This blur in a still image tricks the mind into believing there is movement in an object. I can't imagine more movement in a seated woman than right here. By the way, did I happen to mention I love redheads?