Dream Of The Odalisque

A sultan's concubine whiles away a hot afternoon with a nargile (water pipe) perhaps dreaming of the unattainable such as a life away from the gilded cage of the harem. She arches back her head and luxuriously breathes out the narcotic smoke into the sultry shade of the palace........yes I know harems were not like this, it's the Western fantasy of the Orientalist painters' imagination and of course mine.
This is another painting hopefully heading for this year's Illuxcon in October.
I wanted a richly coloured painting that tries to get across the feeling of a hot afternoon where even being in the shade is barely comfortable so I based everything around reds and oranges in the interior with the erotic frisson of a bejewelled naked woman perhaps stoned out of her mind lying on a couch in the sultry air of an Eastern palace!
Once again the lovely Naomi Wood modelled for the figure although I have changed her hair colour (and face slightly) to be nearer to a middle eastern woman.
39" x 16" oil on canvas. There is a step-by-step progress through this painting on previous posts on this blog.