These paintings illustrate universal female topics such as fertility, caregiving, nurturing, the physical metamorphosis from puberty to maturity and feminine sexuality. My recent work, “ Contemporary Histories” and “ Myths, Legends and Lore” consists of narrative portraits of women from life and fiction. Gleaned from history, mythology and legendary tales, the women that inhabit these works range from icons and role models to feminine identities. While some portraits depict a specific individual, others are archetypal in nature. Each represents a woman who did not conform to the cultural dictates of her time or symbolizes the potential of womankind beyond cultural boundaries. As a female artist, I’ve always been drawn to create work that centers around the female experience. Women’s history has historically been told from a patriarchal perspective. But, just as history flows into the present in an ever-changing state, so does the female narrative morph over time. These paintings are intended to illustrate a history of feminine identity, as seen through a contemporary lens. I combine traditional and contemporary techniques as a means to portray this past-to-present portraiture. The face, hands and body of the figures are painted in a traditional manner to reflect their existence in the past, while the garments are flat planes of color, inspired by1960’s cartoon illustration. Flat graphic background designs, rendered in a contemporary color palette, reference historically female-centric crafts quilting, embroideryĪnd the decorative arts. Floral elements denote both the individual’s narrative and, another historically female-centric subject, the garden. Gold leaf used to create “halos or auras” is not intended to convey deity, but to symbolize the strength and beauty of the feminine psyche. The patterned and botanical environments, along with gold leaf applications and contemporary color palettes are formally influenced by a spectrum of 19th - 21st century artists and artisans from Henri Rousseau, Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt and the Wiener Werkstatte to 1960’s cartoon animation.
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