Work No. 3 from "The Guiding Thread So Fine...." - Group Show, December, 2011. Acrylic on Canvas
Portraiture is interesting today. In the past of course it was to do the obvious - to capture a likeness of an individual. Most of us now have drawers full of photos - portraits for every occassion throughout each year of our lives.
'Now-a-days' I almost think to paint a portrait has to have an implication of something more than just a likeness. Indeed most classic portraits have entered the conscious realm of the general public because of some 'hook' or 'mystery' described or intimated at, in regards to the particular portrait singled. We otherwise are engaged by the period and the costume and some knowledge of the history and timeline of the vast array of classic portraiture that does not have anything else to showcase.
My generation will very much have influenced the evolution of Woman in the general consciousness for our children - as others have before and will after in the 'western' world - which is my world. I have lived a life that has allowed me to be a person in my own right...which so many women have not had rights to in the past and many across the planet still do not as I write this - and I am thankful for my opportunities...although I have worked for them.