Computer Crisis

Well, I've started a new and exciting painting series. I would have loved to have begun sharing it over a week ago, but unfortunately while traveling my computer sustained severe damage and I've had to wait until I had a replacement. It set me back far more than I could afford, but I also can't do my work without a computer, so...

As I stated at the beginning of my photo essay, I have been reading about and watching movies about women and their roles in society. I am very interested in women today and what roles we play that are leftovers from the past as well as how we have progressed past some of the more submissive, objectifying, and property roles.

My painting series is inspired by Mary Stevenson Cassatt. When women were first allowed to paint, they were allowed only to paint women in the academic sense - in other words, as men would have them painted. Cassatt was the first woman to break away from tradition. She left her wealthy home in America and moved to Paris where she met Degas and other impressionist. They were helpful and supportive in her endeavors to paint women in a more natural setting true to their own femininity.

The first in my series is a reference to Cassatt's Girl Arranging Her Hair



Here is the initial sketch on canvas