Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Mina's in the house .....


One of the paintings I’ll be featuring in my retrospective at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center is a 6’ x 6′ triptych of Mina Edison that I painted for the Fort Myers Founding Females portrait show at the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in 2015. That exhibition was designed to introduce to Southwest Florida residents and visitors the names, faces and stories of some of Fort Myers’ most prominent female leaders, civic activists, philanthropists and entrepreneurs. The triptych of Mina was the centerpiece of that show.

The painting is called Mina’s Touch. Each of the three panels in the triptych measures 24 x 72 inches. This painting was something of a departure for me as I forwent my customary drips and splatters and rendered the portrait, instead, exclusively with loose and lively brushstrokes.

I originally painted the portrait on unstretched canvas while I was in California studying portraiture theory and techniques at a workshop. That allowed me to roll it up and take it on the plane with me.
 
When I got back to Florida, I mounted the canvas on one inch thick, acid free Gator board that the Edison & Ford Winter Estates special ordered for the occasion. The portrait is based on an historical photograph that I obtained from the Edison Historical Society. It depicts Mina with the family dog, Cinnamon.

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