Creating something this large was always something I needed to do. It held more interest for me. I like the obvious way it demands your attention.
When walking into a space, you’re going to notice the large painting on the wall and your going to have to look at it. It won’t be overlooked. The colors take on a huge role in this effort to be viewed. These large mixed media pieces come to life with pastel, watercolor, and acrylic on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper. The materials allow me to then bring shape to an outlined version that sits on the paper, just waiting for consideration. With the materials I use, it gives me the power to make something beautiful with an underlying tone of darkness that demands your attention for more thought. The colors are bright and bold and soft at times but there is a beautiful harshness that seeps to the surface which sets in this darker tone. The paint brings in this ability to solidify these figures while the pastel allows for them to fade away onto the white of the paper. What’s left untouched or untold is just as important as what was finished. It creates a detachment from reality, but the emotions remain all too real. It requires more than a glance from the viewer.
When photographing these women, I actually found that I wanted their expression to remain more neutral.
It didn’t seem like an important detail until I realized it held the whole expression of the painting. An image of a woman not smiling seems to hold more questions. I think as a culture we want women to smile, visually it’s more pleasant for the viewer, we tend to find them more attractive that way. As soon as you take a smile or smirk away though, you naturally want to know more about them, rather than if they held an expression of elation. As soon as an expression takes on a somber note you want to know why. These women do have stories unknown to me and the viewer, I just want to hold the viewers’ attention long enough for them to wonder what it is.
