By Tissa Hewavitarane

Painting the arms of men and women

I will start with the flowing lines of the fairer sex. Women's arms hang closer to the body than men, and their forearms are

slightly shorter. This is probably due to the early days when man, the hunter, had to hurl a spear, club enemies, and lift heavy rocks. The woman has more flexible elbows than the male.

We can see poses which are not similar. I will start on their lovely flowing lines and skin textures. The water colour painting has a pattern that must always be respected.

The lighter colour must always be reserved, the dark colours outline the highlights and light cannot be painted over dark tones. To start with Fig. 1 shows the smooth ladies' arms. You will observe I have painted six poses of women's arms and their skin texture. Study the shape of fingers, curves and the bends.

Fig. 2 shows you five poses in different shades of colour of men's arms and muscles. The colour highlights and texture could be varied in different movements. To paint the arms and to obtain the correct shade, the drawing paper should be wet and a pale basic colour could be applied according to the skin.

The illustration shows men's arms with curved contours. The first coating of paint is applied with a light colour.

Fig. 3 is of covered arms. The top left shows a leather jacket, with a pale yellow colour applied while the right side shows the arms with a blue coat sleeve. The two bottom designs are women's clothes, a coat and a blouse sleeve in green and pink.