fairytale girl
I did this small painting from a photo of my 3-year-old cousin. To say she was petulant the day I took it would be an understatement (but, to be fair, what 3-year-old enjoys being dragged away from their cartoons, stuffed into a scratchy party dress, and forced to smile for the camera?)
There is something about the combination of willfulness, distrust, and worry in her expression that caught my eye. The disheveled hair, nervous fingers, and knit brow offset the saccharine trope of a pretty little girl in a pink dress. I amped up the tension by placing her in an abstract, unforthcoming space. I like to think of her as a version of Gretel from the old fairytale, having escaped the witch's candy cottage to wander the woods in search of safety, grappling with visions and fears she is not quite old enough to comprehend.
The "trees" were painted with Williamsburg Iridescent Bronze to give it an ethereal, fever-dream quality, where the edges of our vision are distorted. The folds of her dress owe a debt to Old Holland Kraplak Rose Antique Extra.
One thing I regret in the photograph of this painting is that the pink of her skirt looks uniform and solid, while in reality there's a fair bit of the background peeking through.
"Gretel." Oil on board, 2017.
