Baking Flour & 1884-1984 Pastel (faces of Zoé & Joey, set of 2)

Description

Baking Flour: “Very often I like to do a painting where the portrait alone represents not only the personality but the activity of the subject in their environment, even though the actual elements involved are not visible in the painting itself. Looking at Zoé with flour on her forehead, the tiny wisps of hairs from her chin, the white in her eyes and the natural glow of her features, all served as a tribute to her age and the weariness that accompanied those many years of her life.” 1884-1984: “A man’s supposed to live to be 100.” Joey Ouellette “I knew Joey was dying when I started the preliminary studies for this piece. He never said anything, but you could feel it somehow. I think that in the last few months before someone dies there is a difference about them which is reflected in this portrait. Joey never tried to make me feel uncomfortable, but I sensed then that he was waiting to die, and it was a strange sensation for me to experience. I wanted to focus on his eyes and face because, in them I felt what his mood was projecting….of the life he had lived and the death that would claim him.”