Finally, the day has come when I can reveal a brand new figurative painting...
I've been aching to make a return to figures beyond the mixed media collages I've been producing. My inititiation into the art world started years ago, painting and drawing through figure drawing [from life] classes. This is where I draw the core of my passion to produce art. I'll always be a purist in this regard because there is nothing more satisfying then getting down and dirty with the beautiful tangibility of working with buttery paint or dusty charcoal, sitting for hours working out the nuances between light and shadow, the gradation of tonal values that create lines without being literal about it – there is no finer reflection of humanity and nature in this gesture [no pun intended] and no better subject than the human body – the tangible weight and vessel that poetically carries every line of memory and identity through curves, and crevices, revealing unspoken secrets.
Quite a few years back I started a series reconstructing well known myths into more suitable models of modern day heroes. My subjects were women that I knew personally reclaiming power depicted through ancient and archaic mythical icons and allegories such as Eve, Persephone, Ariadne and so on. You can read more about that and have a peek at those pieces HERE.
A couple of years ago I started a series based on a similar premise; everyday women I knew were depicted as imaginary constructed mythical queens to squash notions of class and shine a light on 'everyday royalty'. You can view a couple of them HERE. It was pushed to the backburner when Garnet & Ashes was ignited and all my energy went into building it as a business throughout 2014.
For those of you following Garnet & Ashes on instagram, you've seen some of my time-lapsed videos of current work in progress. I've put together a choppy version [I'm new at this] of this new piece.
Introducing my dear friend, Lynn Hardaker, who in her own right is a brilliant Canadian artist & writer residing in Germany and who is indeed queen of the fireflies. Do yourself a favour and discover her work HERE and HERE.
The Firefly Queen, 16 x 16, Oil on Cradled Wood. 2015