Reclining Nude by Leo Ge

Interesting title for a good still life painting

So interesting. Love the treatment of the glass and the images seen through it. Now you’ve either made a mistake with the title or you’re keeping us guessing……hang on a minute, I think I’ve spotted her! I’ll not spoil it for everyone else but I’m green with envy.

Will need to make a confession. My friend saw my artworks and asked me to paint something for him. I asked what he would like, and he said, "A reclining nude would be good for my bedroom." Since I couldn’t ask him to pay for my labor, I didn’t want to hire a professional model. So I asked my neighbor to do me a favor and pose for me. I positioned the neighbor in the same pose as Titian’s reclining deity. I started painting, but the neighbor turned out to have a very fidgety nature. One moment they were hungry and I had to order pizza; another time they suddenly remembered the soup boiling in their apartment and ran off to turn off the stove. Besides, the neighbor simply couldn’t stay still and kept squirming in place. My reclining nude's body parts and facial expressions became increasingly inconsistent, since I painted each from a different pose of my model. At some point, I found myself yelling and stomping my feet — and the offended neighbor, blushing all over their body, ran off in a huff. What else could I do? I turned the canvas vertically and painted this bouquet instead. I should mention that during my nude painting sessions, I always place a bouquet — or sometimes even two — in vases for inspiration.

Good painting, and a good story to go with it.