PROCESS
As time has gone by, I have gone back and forth between "realism" and "abstract" and done a lot of experimenting.
It seems that to get to what resonates deeply within myself takes a long time.
First, there is the idea. I will show how this occurred in one piece I finally finished about 6 months ago.
A few years ago, a show came to the Portland Art Museum featuring the work of John Singer Sargent.
I was interested in Sargent, as years ago I studied still life with a woman who had studied with him in the early part of the century.
Her name was "Miss Cook". In any event, I found her class inspiring, as at that time I was trying to do still life like Cezanne's still lifes.
However, I always thought Sargent's pieces were rather dated and even what I would call slick in their execution.
What I admired most about Sargent for a long time was his ability to paint satin.
Before the show in Portland, I had not had the opportunity to see his work and the large size of some of his pieces.
The sheer size of some of his portraits struck me as phenomenal, and it was this show that made me want to paint something big.
I decided on a painting of two women, based on another piece I'd done previously of me and my two cousins as girls.
This piece was done in oils on board with a filler of glass beads and sand to give it texture.
My idea was to do a large painting based on the two figures,
and I originally drew them with their arms linked. I don't think I have a photo of that stage.
In fact, the colors and shapes of the girls at the beginning were far different from this early stage of the work:
The figure on the left was always the problem to me.
At first her arm was linked with the girl on the right, then I had her holding a purse.
But there was something wrong, and I just couldn't make a decision.
It didn't feel right.
I modified the background,
I changed the dress on the left to white,
I changed the hair, I enriched colors here and there.
It didn't satisfy me.
The blue dress returned and a few more changes occurred.
Now I really felt dissatisfied. I felt it was a total failure.
But I happened to notice the legs showing through the blue dress,
and it suddenly occurred to me what I wanted to do with this painting.
I wanted to simplify it even further, and create an ambiguous figure on the left.
Up to now this process had taken over 3 years of working on and off on this piece.
I used a fine quality transparent glue and mostly transparent glass,
and covered the painting so that the painting showed through in areas.
I had discovered "the ultimate pigment" and simplified the composition.
The title is Orpheus & Eurydice. She holds the mirror.
I will say no more about the picture as it has taken on a life of its own.
What was there and needing to emerge finally appeared.
This is the way I work.
Details of the mosaic:
The painting shows through