A Lady ALWAYS Keeps Her Knees Together

BLUE DEVA SERIES

"Siren"

Oil on Canvas

30" x 40"

$2500 USD

The Blue Deva Series is my ode to the feminine form and mystique. After years of painting landscapes I had become bored, so turned to the human landscape for a good “ass kicking.” How fascinating it is to watch others respond to the human image.

The subject, a long time friend and art model, counseled me to be sure and define the shadows around her breasts, as otherwise, they would look like headlights... "People always paint my breasts like headlights!” I snickered and thus for a time the painting earned the nickname “Headlights.”

My 83 year old grandmother, when faced with this image, stood erect for the first time in 30 years, nostrils flaring and sputtering in disgust. Once composed, she stated simply and with perfect affect, “When I was a young girl, we were taught that a lady always keeps her knees together.” I laughed until Gram laughed with me. Thus the next nickname.

A visiting art collector who fancied himself a ladies’ man could barely contain his male enthusiasm over this image and thought to buy it for a song. I was not inclined to sell her off so cheaply.

I had another story about this image. One of a series of feminine images exploring mood and lighting – this woman is sensual and introspective. In ways, the audience is not even there – just her alone, looking inward. Look at me or don’t.

And if I still own this piece a few years down the road, perhaps I will market it to a gynecological clinic, where even the most mannered ladies cannot always keep their knees together!