I decided it was time to paint some of my antiheroines when I needed them the most. Painting someone is a devotional job. This body of work tells a story of my life, brazen libertine women who drive me to be courageous and live my life fearlessly. Gorgeous, strong, outspoken.
Without art and artists - I would be lost. To open oneself to the possibility of seeing (not just “looking” at) a piece of art, requires an exchange. If you see the art, it resonates. If you cannot see it, the work just sits there, meaningless flesh and bones. But in that chance, a spontaneous and dynamic experience can happen, that humble moment of communion with art. Pure connection.
“And the trouble is that if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.”
-Erica Jong
From a formal perspective I can get persnickety. These paintings are not portraits but inspired by images patched together from reproduced images available in the public realm. Female bodies as the repository of knowledge and power. I have painted them from the perspective of a lover not a voyeur. Erotic, yes, pornographic, no. Naked, yes, nude, no. The skin of a painting - it’s unique surface - I obsess on. The edges of the canvas I fight even though I know I need their limitations. Composition, though underrated, is critical. Negative space is full of possibility! I’d rather underkill than overkill. The palate is murky, muddy, earthy hues with a blast of cool springtime pastels.