Whole lotta shakin' going' on

I think of this as my rock and roll picture.  This features the same couple last  seen under the apple tree in “Same old, same old.” Perhaps it is the vertical invitation to the horizontal  involvement shown there, with its echoes of Eden.  Both stories are made up, no models in the studio being asked to pose, no reaction to a scene already set.

I came at this painting just after watching Priscilla Presley’s film about her time with Elvis, which took me back to the early days of  rock.  There were scenes of his hangers on all desperately having a good time, smoking, drinking and dancing. And someone I know had just got distinction in her ballet exams., so dance was up there in my thoughts.

My initial sketch emphasised a reverse symmetry in the movements of the two front figures ,with their steps crossing over one another, her arms visibly swinging to the left, his to the right. Then I changed it so both of her arms are seen swinging left but one of his goes right but the other is hidden behind his back, making it syncopate.

The man in front on the right is a sort of Elvis figure, although he does not have the elaborate back combing and quiff – his hair is more Jonny Rotten.   Different era.

Maybe I should give him gold earrings…?

 Vague memories of Edward Burra’s nightclub paintings gave me the idea of the raking division of the “background” suggesting beams of light throwing highlights and leaving pools of deep shadow.  I decided to make the brushwork looser, to suggest a smoky atmosphere. The one on the left starts as a pinpoint and vanishes as it gets tangled up with all the legs. The one on the right is the inverse – starting out broadly behind the man with the open mouth’s head and sliding down to disappear behind his legs, picking up a change in the lighting of his flowery shirt en route.  (I got the shirt from a Cuban guayabera I had seen illustrated in a fashion spread. Magpie, me!)

At least, that is what I thought that was what was happening to those beams when I was painting them.

More important were the harsh shadows and highlights. As I worked on these I started giving the woman on the left Amy Winehouse makeup. No black hair, though, as the woman in “Same old, same old” had reddish hair. I gave the girl in the background similar heavy makeup. They are both made up and  dressed to party. The lighting allowed me to give off key highlights to the faces and hair  and to introduce areas of dark shadow into the dresses.