Aphrodite at Play – 54″ x 33″

I still think of this as my most important piece.  I started with a curvy wooden board I’d had for years.  I altered the face of an Italian classic painting and the flowers in her hair are jellyfish.  The arms started as Mary holding Jesus in another classic painting. After much reversing, painting and colored pencil they stood poised to be doing something.

I realized this is the position a puppet master uses to hold strings, and so the story took a turn as the female figure became Goddess of Love manipulating the strings of Adam and Eve.  Her breasts are covered with Florentine rooftops, her ribs are the ceiling of a church. The pelvis-looking thing is actually a jellyfish that sits inside a church anteroom. The most fun came from using a photo of the steps of Machu Picchu every which was as the ruffles of her skirt. The sky is painted.

Original Medium: mixed media on wood panel