Portraits
In 2013, I was invited to participate in a portrait exhibition. I hadn’t attempted portraits since my college days, but night after night, I sat and pondered my own face in a mirror propped beside my easel. I started with a 5 x7 canvas board. Soon, staring back at me was a woman with squiggly dark hair, wearing a black turtleneck and a heavily lidded expression, set against a background of bright dots. A second similar self-rendering followed, this one on a narrow slice of wood.
From the beginning, I took a loose, painterly approach to my portraits, seeking an inventiveness more than a facsimile. I began to feel like I’d found some sort of groove with “Woman Dreaming of Sunset,” a portrait of an unidentified woman, no longer me. I followed the wood’s natural notches, including the scooped circle above my subject’s head. In the glow of its rich, warm colors, that orb could be a halo, bull’s-eye, flower, wheel or the sun. I’ve always liked the ambiguity and possibilities. That winter, I steadily added to my collection of portraits. And lately, I’ve been intrigued by portraits once again. Pre-Covid trips to Montreal inspired a series of isolated figures in wintry landscapes. I painted a few more in the deep days of the pandemic. Emerging from the lockdown, I started to add great color and more patterned flourishes to my newest portraits. The experimentation continues.
Still (2023), oil on canvas, 16x12
Woman Watching (2023), oil on canvas, 18x14
Mountain Pose (2021), oil on canvas, 11x14
The Orange Dress (2023), oil on canvas, 12x9
When (2022), oil on canvas, 20x20
Girl in a Black Frock (2018), oil, 16x12
Girl in a Dotted Dress (2022), oil on canvas, 10x8
The Yellow Sweater (2021), oil on canvas board, 7x5
Blue Distance (2021), oil on canvas panel, 14x11
Girl with a Big Skirt (2022), oil on canvas, 20x16
Into the Field (2021), oil on canvas
Isolation (2020), oil on canvas, 11x14
Isolation II (2020), oil on canvas, 11x14
Isolation, a Self-Portrait (2021), oil on canvas
Man in a Tan Suit (2018), oil on canvas, 20x10
Lockdown, a Self-Portrait (2020), oil on canvas board, 11x14
The Red Skirt (2015) , oil on wood, 13x7.25
The Visitors (2021), oil on canvas
Girl in a Gold Blouse (2020), oil on wood, 19x11
Girl in a Burgundy Cloche (2018), 10x8
Woman Dreaming of Sunset (2017), oil on wood, 15x9.5
Girl in a Pompom Hat (2020), oil on wood, 13x4.25
Elyse (2017), oil on wood