"Dancing Under the Bridge" contemporary figurative painting

"Dancing Under the Bridge" is the third painting I did about our honeymoon in Prague.  It is an early work.  I look at the woman's undefined arm and the pastel buildings in the background, and I see that I was struggling in a clumsy way to learn how to leave things undefined.  Specifically, I was trying to learn to suggest the image and avoid constructing diagrams as my experience and training as an engineer led me to do.   Obviously, I can't say that I got away from diagrams in this painting, but it does seem to work in spite of all its flaws and clumsiness, and I think it successfully conveys the emotion intended.  Actually, there are many times I look at the painting, and I'm fascinated by the foibles as much as than anything else.  I find myself thinking that I might paint it different now, but not necessarily better, even though what I might paint now would probably be considered more sophisticated, more visually complex, make more use of models, etc.

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