Maiden | Mother | Crone
Last year in August I was lucky enough to participate in one of the fabulous OnRamp Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator programs offered by the Indiana Arts Commission.
Through this program, I learned some useful skills for developing an artist business. But the best part is that those of us who participated were eligible to receive a grant to help fund a project that we proposed – and they helped us write the grant proposal – which I secured!
My project is to create a series of twelve portraits depicting the hidden stories of women as they age. Four women will be featured. I sit with each woman in her home and interview her regarding her life story. We are aided in this by looking through her old photographs of her life. From this I select some images of her at meaningful points in her life.
The interview, in combination with the photos, together create a story of each woman to exhibit along with her portraits. I am painting three paintings for each woman: one of her in her youth, one in adulthood, and one in old age. These will hang together as triptychs – a Maiden | Mother | Crone series. The display will be inspired by the devotional triptychs common in early Christian art.
My first interview was with Helen. It was such a joy to sit with her and hear her story and to take her photo. What you see here is a work-in-progress. I still need to add some detail to her face, smooth out some roughness, and finish the rest of the painting (this is a closeup).
I am excited to be working on this project!
So I made a TikTok
I have been playing around with video content as a new way to get out in front of people as an artist. It’s fun. The one about this painting is my second-most-liked TikTok.
The one with the most likes is not about art at all; instead I talk about my period outfit. Like, the one I wear during my cycle. So….yeah. I guess that’s TikTok for you, in a nutshell though.
Stay tuned for more updates on this painting, the Maiden | Mother | Crone project, and other art!
