Talking Portfolio: Episode Seven
Behind the Painting: Paris
I painted Girl with a Lollypop over the first winter I spent in Paris in 2012. I spent a great deal of time studying Impressionist pieces in both the Musée d’Orsay and the Musee de l’Orangerie. This influenced the style of the painting.
The girl in the painting was a friend who had also moved to Paris. We met one day and I gave her a Hello Kitty lollypop because she was always hungry.
I loved the way the lollypop went with her outfit, so I captured in a photograph. I subsequently, made into a painting.
The transformation from photograph to work of art can be seen in my Flipbook.
Behind the Painting: To Scale
I was not used to the very cold winter in Paris and spent a lot of time indoors painting. My friend left the city for holidays. On her return, I surprised her with Girl with a Lollypop.
My friend was delighted with the result. She stood next to the painting while it was still on the easel, and posed for a photograph. She was very short and seemed to be not only the same height as the painting, but also having the same dimensions.
It was then that I realised that I had unwittingly painted my friend to scale in her absence. Not only did it represent her physically, but I think it also really captured her quirky and playful character.
Behind the Painting: The Bathroom
At the time I painted Girl with a Lollypop, I lived in a tiny apartment in Paris. There was very little space in which to paint and almost no good light to work with.
The bathroom and laundry were combined. Although there wasn’t even a window, it was the only place in the apartment with enough light to paint in. This was because there were spotlights installed. It was for this reason that I set up my studio in there.
It wasn’t glamorous to paint Girl with a Lollypop in a bathroom, especially as there was no place to sit and nowhere to store my acrylic paints and brushes. Despite the less than ideal circumstances in which I had to paint, the end result was a beautiful work of art.
Behind the Painting: Fashion
My friend loved to wear bright colours and to combine different patterns in a single outfit. She also wore interesting accessories, such as the pink donut ring I painted in Girl with a Lollypop.
On the day this photograph was taken, she was interviewed for French television about her unique sense of style.
While my friend favoured Kawaii style fashion, her favourite reading genre was horror. In Girl with a Lollypop she has a book tucked under her arm, and in this case it was written by Stephen King.