MASKS
MAKE-UP
CLOTHING
ARMOUR
Does jewelry denote wealth and strength?
MASK AND PEARLS 2 2025
I liked the painting on the doll I created years ago. Keeping a lot of of the
time-consuming work I digitally altered the proportions to be closer
to those of a human female.
MASK AND PEARLS 2014
Oil paint over original b+w
photo of doll 20"x 23"
3 VERSIONS
DEFENCE 2024
These started with a self-portrait in pencil and collage.
I was exploring ways to suggest shape and mass by curving abstract designs over the planes of the body.
Cropped, and taken to the computer, the images evolved, including the allusion to cubism.
I think that women often use clothing and make-up as attempts to conceal vulnerability.
What about those nails in particular... are they weapons?
Details from the original drawing
THE ASCENSION OF THE BRIDE 2014
Pencil on drawing paper (18"x24")
This was planned as an image of a much younger woman. Without a live model,
I settled for a Muybridge photo as reference, but was never really satisfied with the result.
The connection here is with clothing.
I often thought that weddings might lose appeal for young women if the opportunity to wear that beautiful dress was not so seductive.
On "her day" the bride enters a contract that binds her in ways she may not have considered.
A celebration takes place of the
fecundity of her body and, at least historically, her elevation in status as a legally married woman. From that day she is elevated by union with a man and sanctified by the sacrificial "loss" of her virginity.
Detail from a drawing... post-pubescent fantasy