I am Naomi Brooks. I paint runners, dancers, people mid-stride in Brooklyn and I crop them at the collarbone. The bloom trailing behind—loose, gestural, uncontrolled—carries the effort and the intention without needing the face. This one is Prospect Park, cobalt blooming backward into the morning air.
Ruby called it neo-expressionist brushwork. She is right.
The ground stays flat on purpose
Prospect Park is rendered as one unmodulated plane of green-grey. No depth, no trees in the distance, no path curving away. The runner exists against it, not in it.
That flatness is the point. The motion is all hers—the stride, the bloom, the momentum. The park does not compete. It holds still while she moves through it.
Valentina said the cobalt captivates with vibrant energy. It does, because the ground underneath refuses to.
The bloom does what a face would
I paint the air behind a runner the way someone else would paint a face. Loose, gestural, colour breaking into colour. The cobalt here trails and stutters and spreads—it shows effort, intention, the body working.
The likeness stays out of reach. You see her shoulders, her stride, the bloom she leaves. That is enough to know her.
Skin tone comes first, then everything else
I start with the skin—rich, deep, unlit—and build the rest around it. The cobalt bloom reads as bright because the runner reads as solid. The contrast is structural, not decorative.
Charlotte said it radiates momentum. It does, because the figure anchors it and the bloom releases from that anchor. One without the other is just a shape.
This is for someone furnishing a first apartment in a city, who wants a piece that feels like motion and does not need a face to do it. It is not for someone who wants a pastoral, a calm room, or a picture where the subject looks back at them.
Matte fine art poster, in 3 sizes — 12×16, 18×24, 24×32 in. Ships free within the continental US.
