Artistic Inspiration
She informs my work.
Early on, I was inspired by the painting known as Christina’s World by Andrew Wyeth. Years ago, I bought a framed print and she’s been in my house every since. This print is currently is above my desk.
The bleakness of her world, so stark and lonely, contrasted with her pretty pink dress. The real story, however, makes the image so much stronger. The girl in that bleak landscape was Christina Olson. She was disabled and couldn’t walk but it didn’t stop her. She did her farm chores and eschewed a wheelchair. She used her arms to keep going. If ever a woman quietly roared, it was she. This was a determined woman and she remains my artistic inspiration.
And then there’s contemporary art.
Today, with the emphasis of contemporary art being more about statements oriented to the juxtapositions of our troubled culture, my work uses contemporary technology to return to the tableaux vivant and pictorialism perspectives, along with a dip into the Old Master’s and the Renaissance styles of Fine Art. Plus: I don’t really like modern art, abstract, suffering, or urban decay.
The artist’s office. The Print of Christina Olson is above the desk.
Women aren’t welcome in the art world.
My work is also a response to gross inequities for women. In August of 2022, Forbes reported that of the $196.6 billion spent at art auctions between 2008 and 2019, work produced by women accounted for only $4 billion, or around 2% of the total sales. Further, according to Artnet, at the current rate of growth, women’s total sales in the auction market will not approach 50% until the year 2053. As for who is buying art? Forbes found that only 36% women are the folks buying Fine Art.
My mission statement:
I’m on a mission to create more art for women, about women, and about the things women care about. I hope my art inspires women to put more real Art in their homes rather than Walmart Art. I hope it inspires women to collect and invest in Fine Art. I hope they begin giving Fine Art as wedding gifts, graduation gifts, and other meaningful milestones. I hope they choose my work and that my art reinforces a vision of themselves. A vision that reminds them THEY are some of the coolest women anywhere. So, I hope to create Fine Art that they can hang on their office wall to inspire them as Christina Olson inspires me. I find the stories of art fascinating. It isn’t just how it’s made but in what it represents and who it represents. In all my work, I hope women can see it as a mirror of their own fineness and value.
My Genre. History.
Three Facets of One. Digital Oil on Canvas. Composite of three photos each representing one facet of women. The contented woman in Pony Boy gold, the tainted Purity in glam-gossip white, and the Warrior in Black satin because Blood stains don’t show on black. Behind is a Royal Purple gown waiting for its turn to shine.
Tableau, or Tableaux Vivants, is a century old term used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer. It's considered a "living picture" and have been popular since medieval times. Even Queen Victoria's children participated as living mannequins in 1854.
With the birth of photography, Tableaus were widely welcomed since flash photography wasn’t readily available. The performers had to stand very still and that was important in early photography. As photography grew in popularity, Tableaux were often combined with a style known Pictorialism, which is an approach to photography that emphasizes the softness and beauty of the subject via tonality and composition rather than sharpe evidentiary documentation as is done in journalism, headshots, and editorial work. It’s still a desirable approach as the use of filters can attest.
The Pictorialist Style.
This ideal was born in the late 1860s and held sway through the first decade of the 20th century. It approached the camera as an artist’s tool, like the paintbrush and palette. A tool for creating art rather than recording reality.
The Pictorialists were drawn to the camera's artistic qualities. They used it as an escape from reality rather than as a tool to grab a snapshot. They preferred a romantic artistic composition, such as the tableaux. In the darkroom, they expended considerable time and effort to go beyond development of the film. Their goal was to create unique works of art. To do that they discovered new techniques and time-consuming processes, such as gum bichromate, chrysotype (gold) and platinum printing, and engraved photogravures. Their work was printed and presented as part of their art process. They often presented work on layers of lightly toned, transparent papers. The frame was also part of the artist’s composition of the overall finished piece. Today, I use a digital darkroom to recreate Old Master styles, oils, and other traditional painting styles along with photography prints.
