I have to say that I love this painting best because it is different to do a gal in glasses. My dear friend suggessed trying something surprising and quirky and this is it.
But the finished result was modern and beautiful and the glasses are the best part. Lots of people wear them . They are more like jewelry these days and you sort of have to lean into them to make a statement. That statement is I am confident .
And I am interesting and you will want to know me.
I imagine her looking down at a book or a menu or maybe a cup of tea and just luxuriating in her own thoughts.
I have seem people in public places looking down and then you have a chance to really look at their face in a relaxed state and see their beauty.
The painting is intimate that way. A little time observing someone who is not even aware you are looking at them.
Soil
Ink is a great medium for building up layer and layers of paint that stains and leaves traces of old layers underneath.
It is just like compost. The old layers support new life of the top layers. I think it is so fun the way you can sink into the painting and find all the old scraps that have morphed into the finished picture.
It is just like a day in he life. We never dont know where it is going till you get there. Plan Plan PLan but you really don’t know the outcome till it plays out. Wild cards come from everywhere.
That is the beauty of it all.
It is all one big thrilling place to be.
Tiny house living
There is something intangible about living in a small space. I do not know if it is cozy or having others in the house closer to you physically has an impact on your thinking or not but it seems to.
It just feels different.
It is like when you go into a restaurant and get a booth to sit in. Just because you are in a booth and not at an open table you feel sequestered away in your own space.
It is like being on an island.
That is what my little house feels like. At 600 feel it seems way way big enough.
That is for two of us. I have not had a big dinner party yet in the small space but plan to.
The bad thing about it is it is hard to leave. Friends that have come over tend to stay a lot longer than they did at the big house.
I plan on inviting a family of 7 over to eat. we will have to use two tables to get 9 bodies in here but that will be fun too.
My studio is warm and small and it is easy to spend all day working in there too.
I do watch Downton Abby and the rooms are so lovely and gracious and it does look like a wonderful place to visit but I would not want to live there.
My enviroment
We moved back to our small house on January first. So we went from a three thousand foot space to a 600 foot space. It is very fortunate for me that we build an art studio before we left last time so I would always have a place to work.
My studio is a wooping 200 square feet. The funny thing is it has affected my work in a way that is huge. It is quiet and light and bright and a calm space to be. The first 7 paintings to get born there are very different from my last show.
Naturally I started out with a clear idea of what the show would look like and then two paintings in everything was telling me to go another direction so I just went with it.
I feel kind of joyous so this is spilling into my work. Last year I was pretty moddy and sullen which is totally apparent in the work.
being a touchy feely kind of person it probably is a good idea to not be in distress when I am painting.
Anyway I love the show and I have a feeling others will too.
white girls
A friend of mine asked me why I don’t do black girls too. I think I should say here that I only paint faces that are saying what I need them to say. My girls are not portraits of someone or some specific race but just feminine in general. I do simple lines and what I need to say in in those lines. It is just what my voice is and so I do not want anyone to take it as some kind of declaration of who I think is paintable. I only paint what speaks to me so that way I am not trying to please some imaginary audience.
My lastest show is a little differant from the last in that it is more focused on the background than just leaving it negative space. the background is speaking to me right now and I have to listen so in this one show now that is how it is different. I am enjoying looking at this new perspective with the woman in the painting being secondary.
Plus I moved to a new studio that feels so enveloping that it is necessary to focus on everything surrounding me. Before I was pretty focused on one thing.
so white girls green girls red girls,, that is not the point right now. It is the ambiance I am going for / You have to walk into these paintings .