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The Venetian technique, perfected by the Old Masters, was used to create these paintings. Essentially, a ground color and turpentine are brushed onto the canvas, then a drawing is done on top. The next step is an underpainting in neutral tones. After this dries, oil glazes, that is, pigment and varnish medium, are built up in layers over the underpainting. In this way, light is reflected off the underpainting and back through the layers of transparent glaze. Since the layers need time to dry, each of the paintings takes a couple of months to complete so I work on 2 or 3 simultaneously. Once a painting is finished, it takes 3 to 6 months for it to dry well enough to apply a finish varnish on top. Friends and acquaintances pose for the Goddesses so they look like real women rather than the common idealized versions of women we generally see in the media. The Goddess is in every woman and every woman is the Goddess, we just need to let Her speak to us. A lot of research is involved before beginning each of the paintings. Generally, I read a myth and open my mind, letting the image enter. Each Goddess seems to want to be portrayed in a certain manner and She lets me know how in a number of ways. Sometimes the right model will show up at just the right time, or I'll stumble across a book with just the right artifacts or more information about a particular Goddess. In any case, I look at the Goddess and Her culture in depth and search for pertinent artifacts and gather ideas about companion creatures, locale and dress. It's a right and left-brained approach and feels like putting the pieces of a puzzle together. Often it seems as if someone else has been directing. I started out in the early 70's doing social realist paintings and moved into classical mythology with a post-nuclear holocaust background in the early 80's. As I delved more deeply into the spiritual realm, a strong feeling emerged that I needed to go back further and further in time to find the roots of common mythologies and religions. That was when I stumbled upon Barbara Walker's Women's Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets, followed by Merlin Stone's When God was a Woman. It was 1984 and I was home. Since then, Goddess mythology has been my preoccupation, inspiration and the driving force in my life as it involves a completely different way of seeing the world than that to which we are accustomed. Dwelling with the Goddess means taking care of the Earth and treating all species and each other with respect and compassion. This way of living and being was once common on our planet. If it was possible before, it is possible again. |
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