76.2cm X 76.2cm canvas, background fluorescent spray paint, face oil paint.
This is a portrait of my little granddaughter, Vanya, at three years old. Her eyes are wide open, taking in the world around her. She looks like little red Riding Hood, unaware of the world outside her home. This little girl is surrounded by love and returns it.
Vanya is very artistic, not aware that she is a piece of art herself. Here I am not talking about my painting. I would not be surprised if she enters an artistic field when she grows up because she spends a lot of time drawing and creating art.
Vanya has heart shaped lips, white skin, and beautiful dark curly hair, which I had lots of fun painting.
Her eyes are larger than life and in my portraits they are like windows of the soul. Look steadily into Vanya’s eyes in this painting and you will be hypnotised. If you are looking at the painting online, zoom in on her eyes.
I have made large movie billboard style portraits of the whole family. I like painting portraits larger than life. This is a hangover from 50 years ago when I lived around the corner from a ramshackle old movie hall. The movie hall had giant garish hand painted billboards to advertise the films being shown.
Because the portraits are large, it is easy to create a picture within a picture and create subtle highlights and details.
My mother, who is a tapestry weaver, really liked this painting. She made a beautiful tapestry based on it that is just the same size as the original. It is included here.