The unbearable complexity of our beautiful human bodies

This week I struggled with "accuracy" when painting that most traditional of subjects, naked white ladies. Where's their navels, what color are their inner arms, do their heads really tilt that way? Have I managed any illusions of depth, roundness, softness of skin? No wonder the faces of both these ladies look stressed out; that's what I was feeling, and projected onto them. As a break and a relief, I painted just the face of the blond lady, Monica (center and then right). Monica has the delightful quirk of not holding her face in a neutral mask. She periodically breaks out in giggles, makes eye contact with those of us struggling to depict her well, even does an occasional fish-face, much to my delight. It's hardly an accurate portrait but I think my pleasure in painting it was much purer than the absorbing but almost impossible task of depicting an entire, detailed, accurate human.