30 Faces in 30 Days: Day 16

Audrey Hepburn, like Anne Frank, was in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. Her father deserted the family, and Audrey spent her teen years near starvation. Though both parents were Nazi sympathizers, she was a courier for the Dutch Resistance, delivering messages at great risk to herself.  She was a rebellious teenager doing the right thing.

Carmen

The Black Hat, Portrait of Woman Original Oil Painting 8x10

$175

This is quite a departure from the 50-stroke paintings I've been doing. I don't know what got into me, but I really enjoyed this one. It has a vintage look but with a timeless feel. We need a little glamour now and then.

Carmen

Repose, after John Singer Sargent, 24x20 Oil Painting Portrait of Woman

I was recently in Washington D.C. and visited the National Gallery of Art, where I got to see Sargent's painting, Nonchaloir (Repose), a painting I love so much that I copied it years ago (see below.)  It is one painting I will never sell. It was a thrill to finally get to see it in person!

Rouge et Or, Oil Painting on Canvas, Portrait of Woman with Red and Gold

Purchase

I went for a bit of drama here. I used metallic gold paint, which is hard to appreciate on a computer monitor. I had some fun with it. This is a larger painting, not a "daily painting," 18x24 inches.

Carmen

Color My World, 8x10 Oil Painting on Canvas, Portrait of Woman

This was my contribution to the Pieces of 8 challenge for July, which was to paste a half face to a support, then do a creative rendering of the other half. Everyone did an amazing job, which you can see at Piecesof8art.blogspot.com.

Summertime always means painting between traveling and yardwork. Am I still a full-time artist if I keep stopping to pull weeds? Hmmm. Not sure. This week I was weeding four feet away from a large snake, but he was pointed the other direction, so I didn't bother him and he didn't bother me. I did keep an eye out, though. I try to be at one with nature, as long as nature isn't a roach. I will kill myself trying to get away from a roach.

I complain a lot about weeding, but in truth I enjoy gardening, and in my family we have a name for that. It's the "Chulie Gene." My grandmother Chulie was a master gardener, and most of our family is infected with the Chulie Gene. My niece actually has a nursery, Paradise Found, and works like mad to grow very exotic and unusual succulents.

See what I did here? I plugged the Pieces of 8 and my niece's nursery, all in one blog post!

Carmen

The Lacemaker, 16x20 Gouache Painting, after Vermeer

Well, looky here! I was cleaning out my studio and this lady turned up. I painted her in a college class over 30 years ago. I think the assignment was to copy a master and change the color scheme a bit, so I copied Johannes Vermeer's The Lacemaker and warmed it up colorwise. Why I used gouache, I don't know. It is not the most accommodating medium. 

Vermeer and his wife had ten children, and during an economic downturn he was unable to sell his paintings. His wife said that the stress of the situation killed him. I can understand it; if I had to live off my art and had ten children, the stress of it would probably do me in as speedily as it did poor Johannes. Below is the original of The Lacemaker. I am awed by it.

Carmen

Stephanie, 30x40

I have zero time for painting, so I am reaching into the archives for this portrait of my daughter that I painted years ago. I was still working full-time and painted this in my kitchen at night, because that room had the brightest light in the house. I was completely self-taught at that point, just biding my time until I could retire and paint full-time.

I now have a job that's taking 100 percent of my time, and it is art, but not painting. Keeping it under wraps until time for the big reveal.

Carmen

Audrey Hepburn, 16x20 Collage

SOLD

Audrey Hepburn was one of the most elegant and appealing women who ever graced the Silver Screen. Much of this collage is made up of torn pages with scenes from her movies. I must say, it's not that easy to make eyes from little pieces of paper--not that I'm complaining. I'm pretty proud of this portrait.

Detail

Carmen

Marilyn, 20x20 Oil Portrait on Canvas

Only Marilyn Monroe could wear a hat like that and look so good. This is one of my favorite pictures of the photogenic Miss Monroe. I pulled this one from the archives, since I have fallen behind in my new paintings.

My grandmother used to wear a hat fully that large when she hoed her little orange grove, but it did not have the same effect. It did allow her to take her shade with her. She was a true Florida pioneer, tough as nails, an Italian woman who didn't like to cook. I know. Who ever heard of an Italian woman who didn't like to cook?

Carmen