Description

This A3 oil painting had a couple of complex under paintings as part of it’s development. It was abstract and detailed but the overall feel kept going nowhere. After looking at it for a couple of months, I started to see things amongst the abstract shapes and colours – the profile of a seated woman. I decided to give her some form and bring her out by masking out the background around her with that very dark tone. However, after yet another painting session she too disappeared entirely. I was reminded of the story about the man who commissions a painting of a four poster bed. He asked the painter to place a naked woman on it, then once he has seen the bed with the nude, he asks the painter to paint a curtain over her, so she is hidden. And so it is, in the case of this painting too. It caused me pain to loose her but now you also know she is there, seated in the right bottom corner, under all that paint. She’s blowing out the candle on a birthday cake that she’s holding. There’s not even a photo of her.