Henry Yan is an instructor at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. While I was working on my life drawing skills, a friend of mine told me about Yan’s charcoal sketches. When I looked at his website, I was struck dumbfounded by how awesome the brushwork on his oil painting is. This image is one I have been staring at for a number of days and it just floors me. Yan utilizes big, heavy strokes which are masterfully applied in this piece. A few areas are of note. There is a blended brush stroke on the model’s right leg that meshes with the turquoise stroke of the furniture. This one strokes helps to define the 3 dimensional space by allowing the eye to focus on the harder edged strokes of the model’s stomach, knee and face which are closer to the viewer in 3D space. I large pinkish stroke on the couch which is even closer to the viewer in space is boldly placed, added to the dimensionality of the piece. Lastly, the are a number of varied color blended strokes on the wall area which again, pushes this area farther back into space but indicating less deinition. Those strokes are also less saturated than the foreground ones which helps by adding a spacial atmospheric affect. I can’t stop looking at the bright, hard edged torse stroke. MASTERFUL!