Hair

I think the most important aspect of my work, beyond the color, is that I study people and find things that I really appreciate about them, things that they don’t seem to appreciate about themselves. Small imperfections which people are self-conscience about but which I find very attractive and interesting. Moles, freckles, scars, uniquely shaped features etc. I find the look and idea of photoshopped images that we are force fed every day are painting people as super-human beauties free of imperfections. This is the reason that I study the colors so closely and try to make each brush stroke stand up on its own. As a sort of strike against overly blended, overly perfect images.

Similar to the make-up paintings, this is a study of one girls private beauty rituals. This particular girl did not use much, if any, make-up. However, every morning she would hop out of the shower and carefully blow dry and straighten her hair. She claimed that she had to do this in her underwear so she would not get too sweaty and ruin her outfit for the day. I was never really sure if that was actually the case or if maybe she was just putting on a bit of a show for the camera. In either case, the final painting always gave me the feeling that the viewer is invading this personal moment.