Woman with Spots 2010

Part of moving forward as an artist is trying things out you haven't done before.  I've always loved the layering of images, and in fact, my whole career has pretty much been based on the layering of paint with photos, or, conversely, photos with paint.  In 2010 I began experimenting with digital transparencies which allowed the paint to read through the photographic image.  It was very exciting, and there were lots of technical obstacles to overcome. That's part of the fun, but also part of the misery(I think I've mentioned in another blog about not being able to make more than a little "O" shape with my mouth for quite some time because of  serious jaw clenching during this time of "exploration").

Woman with Spots was one of the first pieces that I did incorporating the photographic transparency with the paint underneath.  The face is me from my thirties.  I was trying out a facial cream which involved putting white mud like stuff on my face, letting it dry, and then washing it off.  I couldn't tell the difference from before and after, but I liked the way my face looked with the white on it. It was a strong piece, but there was something that wasn't quite interesting enough because of  the straight, unaltered photo.  In the end,  I painted over it, and now all that exists is this digital record  on my hard drive.  **

**I came back to this panel, was able to remove the paint and resurrect the image.  It now hangs in the home of my good friend, Colleen Schwend, and I'm glad I pulled it back into the world.