Hair. Crowning glory or life-long pain! Lacking even a semblance of either curl or body, my hair hangs straight down in this climate despite my best efforts to curl it. It also stubbornly refuses to grey; I was counting on acquiring a different texture — maybe something manageable wouldn’t be too much to ask…. Anyway, this summer was the last soggy straw.
Faced with the choice of either cutting it all off so that it didn’t glom onto my neck or letting it grow into a ponytail, I chose freedom. It’s a new and cooler world out there if you don’t count the target a ponytail represents to a husband. Jon likes ponytails and now I know why. I doubt that one could stop a horse that way, but it sure works when Jon wants my attention or has to stop me from stepping into the path of an insane un-belled bike peddler on the walking trail.
There are also consequences for my art. It used to be that Jewell would show up here and there, a long brindled hair embedded in a large oil painting. Now my own DNA flutters here and there. Such souvenirs are best caught and removed before the painting dries but life’s busy and I don’t always find them in time. Look at it this way: if you own such an “inclusion” (which are actually prized in amber, don’t you know) you have my permission to clone me, as long as I get curly hair the next time
While I am happily in the “just wash and tie up” mode, others totally embrace hair. This gal whom I have never met, sat in front of us at a December wedding. A horizontal shaft of light set her hair aglow and there I was, without a camera. Our friend, David, had his and obligingly took the shot. Because what I love about hair (anybody else’s, that is) is painting it. I build the underpainting as usual but the fun is in the finish, which is built by dragging riggers - long, thin brushes - dipped in a variety of tones. All sorts of colours can be mixed because hair is not monotone. “Rapunzel” is full of transparent yellows and burnt siennas, with touches of blue, layered on a pale base. “The Private Joke” is mainly sienna/blue mixed in the shadows but separated in the hair’s highlights. Jon has that “I’m about to tug your ponytail” look, doesn’t he?
Faced with the choice of either cutting it all off so that it didn’t glom onto my neck or letting it grow into a ponytail, I chose freedom. It’s a new and cooler world out there if you don’t count the target a ponytail represents to a husband. Jon likes ponytails and now I know why. I doubt that one could stop a horse that way, but it sure works when Jon wants my attention or has to stop me from stepping into the path of an insane un-belled bike peddler on the walking trail.
There are also consequences for my art. It used to be that Jewell would show up here and there, a long brindled hair embedded in a large oil painting. Now my own DNA flutters here and there. Such souvenirs are best caught and removed before the painting dries but life’s busy and I don’t always find them in time. Look at it this way: if you own such an “inclusion” (which are actually prized in amber, don’t you know) you have my permission to clone me, as long as I get curly hair the next time
While I am happily in the “just wash and tie up” mode, others totally embrace hair. This gal whom I have never met, sat in front of us at a December wedding. A horizontal shaft of light set her hair aglow and there I was, without a camera. Our friend, David, had his and obligingly took the shot. Because what I love about hair (anybody else’s, that is) is painting it. I build the underpainting as usual but the fun is in the finish, which is built by dragging riggers - long, thin brushes - dipped in a variety of tones. All sorts of colours can be mixed because hair is not monotone. “Rapunzel” is full of transparent yellows and burnt siennas, with touches of blue, layered on a pale base. “The Private Joke” is mainly sienna/blue mixed in the shadows but separated in the hair’s highlights. Jon has that “I’m about to tug your ponytail” look, doesn’t he?
 "Rapunzel" glaze oil 12 x 12 |  "The Private Joke" glaze oil on panel 12 x 12 |
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