Sweet 16

This Blue Lady is turning 16 and I feel she needs a bit of the spot light... I painted her in the late summer of 1995. A few weeks before I got married. My future husband had spent three months in Saudi Arabia, then working for a telecommunications company and I had heard his stories about the women, clad head to toe in black burkas. ( Since we were not married then I was not able to join him!)


There was little to no interaction with the locals, unless you've got invited by some of the executives. And even then women were not allowed. Unless the husband trusted you and you were formally introduced. At home, he told me, the ladies wore Chanel and Dior but still were not seen much! Meals were taken separately. He praised their cooking and their devotion to the family!
Of course I had heard these stories before but having it told by the man I was to marry a few weeks from then it made me shiver.
I am a bit of a rebel and certainly a free thinking woman. And it got me thinking!
This gave way to an idea for a painting. A proud woman I envisioned in a turban, facing the viewer! I was also influenced by one of my favorite painters: Gustav Klimt! It is called: Blue Lady - Homage to Klimt!
This is me on my wedding morning, my friend taking care of my hair at home! Behind me you can get glimpses of the painting, then still not quite finished. We lived in a shoe box studio apartment and painting was done in stages...There was no studio in this apartment...


And so she came about and she has been with us ever since. She hang a long time in my husband's home office, but I thought she might look really good in our living room! She has matured!



Do you have an artwork, which you love to live with? Any good stories with it? Do tell me.....

And have a lovely weekend!

XX
Victoria




All images and artwork by V.Zlotkowski