Flossie the Flapper revisited

Flossie the Flapper, a painting with lots of texture and visual interest, was completed as part of an assignment for a year-long online class studying faces.

“The pretty toes, the shapely ankle, the gently undulating leg – and then to cap the climax – there is the knee.  Or should we say knee-cap?

It’s a terrible bump – to masculine imagination.”  The Flapper – (The psychology of knees), June 1922.

mixed media portrait of 1920's flapper
“Flossie”, 16×20, mixed media including collage background, acrylics, and Golden Pearl Mica Flake (small) in hat and on earring.

This flapper from the 1920s for Throwback Thursday was originally published last year

At that time, I was beginning to learn that each painting goes through a scary, ugly stage. I also learned that this is the critical time when artists must push through to the other side. Yes, there is another side where I can breathe a sigh of relief. The portrait actually loses the zombie look and has human features.

For Flossie I used a collage technique in the background. Paper napkins, collaged text, and a light applications of acrylic paint to blur the edges of collaged pieces work nicely together.

A year has gone by since I painted Flossie. I know I have progressed at least a bit in my techniques. 

I do like the mica glitter in her cap, the colours from the background which are repeated in her cap and dress and the spotlight which seems to be focused on her.

She was the first painting displayed in my home.  Most of my other art work remains in dark corners of my art room or in sketchbooks.

Portraits and faces continue to be the subjects I truly enjoy painting.  Furry friends come a close second. 

In the end, it doesn't matter whether one enjoys knitting, music, cooking, sculpting, photography, etc. as long as we continue to learn and to challenge ourselves in some way.

What is your creative endeavour?