WallFlower

Oil on canvas, sealed yarn & burlap, vinyl, collage, silver leaf. From the "Difficult Women" ongoing series.

A lovely figure gazing back at the viewer….It is still one my favorite subjects for painting. In this case, instead of the full-length vertical I had been making so many of before this, I decided to go with a seated figure. “WallFlower” was painted at the same time as “Hands In Lap” of similar size and subject matter. The armless torso intensified my choice to remain simplified…thus borrowing once again from the Venus de Milo statue.
I posed for this with a fluffy flower in my hair…trying to make it ‘not look like me’ because I only needed myself as a model for the placement of the eyes, etc. I decided the skirt area was too spacious, so like many other past works of that time, I filled the area with selected bits of collaged newsprint ....satisfying my appetite for a touch of abstract. Then, took a blade and cut a rectangle ‘window’ with the idea of filling it in with a paperdoll chain. Perfect…almost too feminine, but who cares?
Our shy little lady ended up with a somewhat regal expression I think. She gazes forever out at the crowd…