Great Grandmother
20" X 16"
Acrylic
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Rose and Her Cousins
24" X20"
Acrylic
Rose and Her Cousins
(closeup)
These two paintings represent a new direction for me. These are paintings of old family photos my sister gave me on a recent visit. I've never painted from photographs before, so this is a real challenge for a self-taught folk artist who usually paints completely from imagination. I'm not a portrait painter, and "photo-realism" is just not an option, but I think I captured the essence of the real people in the pictures. Surprisingly, I see my cousin's face in one of the little girls, and my mother's eyes in "Great Grandmother." Which is funny because I didn't see the resemblances until after the paintings were done. It was an unusual experience. As I was painting faces from the past, the present generation came through. Cool.
Festival Queen
16" X 12"
Acrylic and Gold Leaf
Swan Lake
16" X 12"
Acrylic and Gold Leaf
May Festival
16" X 12"
Acrylic
Plague Doctor
12" X 9"
Acrylic
Opera Singer
18" X 14"
Acrylic
Monk's Cat II
12" X 9"
Acrylic and Gold Leaf
The last six paintings are part of a series I am doing that I call the "Festival Series." Lots of bright colors and gold leaf. The Plague Doctor is based on an old engraving showing the protective suits doctors wore during the plague. In the original, the outfit is unembellished, and the stick he carried was more likely used to poke the patients to see if they were still alive... I decided to send him to a party instead, and the stick became a party favor/mask. Don't you just love artistic license! I wish I could do that in real life!
