Description The reclining nude was begun during my time in SUNY Potsdam. It has an interesting and humorous backstory as to how I came 2 the end result during my time in Potsdam I had painted 2 nude females prior to this piece and was given the impression by the teacher that the 3rd nude model that we would have would b a female as well. So on the 1st day of beginning this work I arrived at school early as usual and entered the painting studio empty and so I left as usual to get a cup of coffee. 15 minutes later I came back 2 find the spot I claimed was directly facing a nude male model and as such the remainder of the class had horse shoed around the model so as to avoid a direct view so to speak. Of course I was in a shocked state first finding out the model was a male and 2nd finding out that my vantage point was the most revealing.And so I began the piece the reclining male nude . I remember having a moment when I decidedly embraced the 2 week endeavor and took that awkward emotion and painted it full force into the piece. So my intent was 2 capture the essence of what I was looking at( the lighting, the bedding, the light fixture and the model). The whole process was very instinctual to me. I attacked the canvas with many paint brushes and large amounts of paint to texture the surface of the work. I would see a color here and I would let the fate of how the oil paint mixed on the palette and what paint was available to me and what I had seen, work together to create each color splotch. I then used black to isolate each event of color to acknowledge the surface of the canvas is flat and to as well, define the 3d shapes and space. Lastly I used thin black strokes within each color event to emphasize the fatual directionality of the strokes. After everything was said and done it became one of my favorite pieces id ever made even with the initial awkward circumstances.