Back in summer I made a few paintings, based on 1940s photos of women from LIFE magazine. I painted the faces from looking at photos, and then surrounded them with heavy pattern wall paper from roughly the same time period. I enjoyed making these small portraits with smiling or surprised faces, often taken from soap or toothpaste ads. They all measure 8” x 8”.Overtime they became various studies of faces, and I started using more modern photos, which changed the feel and expression of the paintings.
Just this week I completed portrait # 40. I didn’t know I was going to do this many or how they would change overtime. I like them as individual portraits, as well as put together in a big block as the above photo. For now, I have decided to take a break, but may return to this format the future.
