Marilyn

Hi Alex, thanks for posting your pictures - the rendition is excellent. What I find interesting are the choices we make - what we choose to draw or paint. You've chosen here to paint a woman who was/is one of the world's ideals of female beauty. What have you found out? Does her beauty come from within? How do we show what comes from within? If you changed a few lines, or even just one, would she become ordinary/ ugly? What is ugly?

Hi Angie, you raise some interesting questions... am very, very critical of the work I produce so I guess I'm drawn to painting images that I see as 'perfection' to begin with and then if I can re-create that , that is success to me! But then what do I perceive as perfection? Perhaps it's just the on-looker's fascination with her tragic life but I always find myself wondering what is going on behind MM's photos. Perhaps that was the point - perhaps she was crying out to the public who saw her as this seductive symbol but in actual fact, she was mentally troubled, vulnerable and had a child-like innocence that needed nurturing. So to that end, I think her beauty is wrapped up in the whole of her and painting her is not just representing her physical body but her personality and the meaning behind her pose. I normally create detailed pictures and this canvas is a few feet tall and the outline about a cm wide so it was interesting to challenge my boundaries and make something very simple for a change. I 'posterised' an original image and worked from that - perhaps there was a subconscious decision behind that other than just a new challenge, in that maybe I wanted to strip away the colour and the styling that opitomises her and to present her in a very primitive way. I did even think of doing versions in other colours, in a sort of Warholian style. And I'm really not sure what ugly is...beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all.

What an interesting answer. How big exactly is this picture? I think size does matter, it does make a difference. I think it would be a great idea to do versions in other colours to see what they feel like and how they alter the image. On my screen this first one looks more or less black and white (with shades of grey) - maybe there's just a hint of pink in the face (or it might be my imagination). How did you choose the colours (or lack of colour) for this first one?

Yes, its purely greyscale - the original image is black and white and posterising it just took out the detail. I think I just wanted it simple - not realistic (as I usually try for) but more abstract. Her face is perhaps 25-30cm wide excluding hair. I see whar you mean about the pink tinge to her face - could be the light as I photographed it or an illusion? Wasn't intended though.

PS I now appear twice on here...I couldn't log back in so had to re-create myself!