The human figure

I haven't been painting much the human figure over the past few months. Now two paintings are almost done... something that really excites me. It's interesting to see how you go about the same subjects after several months..

In general, I find it much easier to paint from a model, than painting from imagination. You don't have as many degree of freedom, you can concentrate more on the technique and the colors, rather than trying too many different ideas and get lost... Yet in these last two paintings I let imagination and reality go hand in hand... I let the a painting itself lead me, instead of enforcing my point of view... a risky business... but we'll see the outcome.