"Anticipation"
16x24 oil on canvas


This painting was a real breakthrough piece for me. I had just finished "Have You Ever Read Anything So Beautiful?" which is part of the "Victorian Series".

(on my site www.kathysart.com and on one of my blogs, http://kathysvictorianseries.blogspot.com)

I had spent forever modulating the colors on Lucy's face. If you check out that image, Lucy is the one in the striped dress. She lives in Bordeux, France and had apprenticed for me for a summer in my pottery studio. I added as many colors to her skin as was humanly possible while still keeping it soft. All those stripes on her dress! Then there was all that lace on Tammy's dress... I was going nuts... but I felt happy with the end results. It is still one of my favorite paintings. I had a few canvas' that I had just painted a dark loose base on and decided to paint with brighter colors on them. Then a light went off... what if I didn't modulate? What if I freed myself to just put color down on the canvas and feel the 'passion' of painting. I did and this is the result. I named this painting "Anticipation" because after it was finished I anticipated a whole series of breaking free and feelng the freedom of quick strokes under my brush. I go back and forth now in styles still understanding the value in both styles.