Thursday, June 14, 2012

Portrait Experiment: Two Women With One Yellow Shirt


Portrait Experiment  oil on panel  20x14"                     Same painting in another stage...complete

The painting on the left was done alone in my studio.  There was no model or photo to support the exploration.  It is, in fact, painted over a small abstract painting.
It was an exploration of trust.  I wanted to see who would emerge if I simply started to paint without any intent or preconceived notion  of who it would be or how it would be painted.
It doesn't look like anyone I can think of in my friendship circle or history.

After a few weeks of sitting around the studio I decided that it was not enough.
I sat down in front of the painting again with the intention of it becoming "something else" and something that would have a quality that would make me want to keep looking at it.

I listened with my hand.
And indeed it is those tiny little "ideas"...the tributaries of real thought and direction that matter so much and are often so hard to give credence to.

But they are usually right there all the time.
I got lucky...I did hear them and what came out has fascinated me ever since.  The result is the painting on the right.  It looks hauntingly like two dear friends of mine.  Each offering something specific in their gaze...overlapping messages and overlapping visages...so truthful in the layering.

You may like the one on the left more...that's fine.  But I am grateful to have the one on the right.
I think I will call it:  "Two Women With One Yellow Shirt."


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