oil on canvas over sculpted foam on board
65 ht x 54 wd x 5 dpth inches
2022
The colliding background pieces of turquoise and cobalt violet on yellow were executed as separate designs, with less concern to supporting the overall composition. This approach is much different in a background than I might normally undertake.
My hope is to capture the viewers interest with the background first, possibly a default approach to pictorial success. I want the color here to be like food, the thick texture (feel) of the oil paint mixed with sand is equally important as the taste (hue),when held on the tongue.
Her foreshortened torso bent forward toward the viewer, while turning on axis upon one leg, allows the position of the other three limbs to pose with her stylized hair shape to form a five-pointed STAR.
I chose to wrap each point of the star in a ribbon of ultramarine oil,emphasizing the radial aspect of each arm, leg and hair. Later coating the surface with tiny crystals,(which may not be perceptible in this photograph).The crystal coating lightened the ultramarine hue effectively.
The five-pointed star, first appear in Egyptian iconography, later in Mesopotamian cuneiform , ultimately adopted to symbolize the western culture.