I inserted a 3-D drawer into the portrait, eluding to a comment made by Betty Parson (Parson's School of Design, where I attended). She astutely claimed that elegance is an 'inner attitude.' The drawer, also used by Salvador Dali, is for me, a device to suggest something inside is emerging. Kid gloves not only suit the era portrayed in the painting, but also evoke ideas about 'inner' elegance and gentility. I tinted the painting slightly, mimicking vintage hand-tinted photographs of the time. These matriarch paintings have a lot to do with my memory of treasured attic finds and my mother's passion for sharing them with me.
I inserted a 3-D drawer into the portrait, eluding to a comment made by Betty Parson (Parson's School of Design, where I attended). She astutely claimed that elegance is an 'inner attitude.' The drawer, also used by Salvador Dali, is for me, a device to suggest something inside is emerging. Kid gloves not only suit the era portrayed in the painting, but also evoke ideas about 'inner' elegance and gentility. I tinted the painting slightly, mimicking vintage hand-tinted photographs of the time. These matriarch paintings have a lot to do with my memory of treasured attic finds and my mother's passion for sharing them with me.