Looking around hospital waiting room, I see people huddling together. I see it in newspaper and magazine photos too.
In times of trouble, anxiety and apprehension, in times of anticipation and jubilation, people huddle. They touch. They clump. They lean towards each other. They congregate in very close quarters.
So I started to paint groups of people. Huddling. Touching. Talking. Conferring and deciding, reacting and grieving, celebrating and consoling.
Body language is critical in these paintings. People are approachable and inviting, or people are distant and cold. Body language reveals the internal state that is hidden behind the skin. The body language in groups of people is interesting to me…the way we lean in or away from each other, the tilt of a head, the expression on a face.
<em>The Sorrows</em>, mixed-media on paper, 40" x 26", 2014<em>Migration (II)</em>, oil on canvas, 60" x 48", 2011<em>The Seamstress</em>, oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2011<em>The Last Together</em>, oil on canvas, 40" x 48", 2010<em>Migration</em>, oil on canvas, 60" x 48", 2010<em>Witness and Saviour</em>, oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2010<em>A Look in the Mirror</em>, oil on canvas, 60" x 48", 2010<em>A Conversation, Of Sorts</em>, oil on canvas, 40" x 60", 2010<em>The Vision Test</em>, oil on canvas, 60" x 40", 2010<em>Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop</em>, oil on canvas, 40" x 48", 2010<em>The Glass Slipper</em>, oil on canvas, 40" x 30", 2010<em>Nice Girls</em>, oil on canvas, 40" x 40", 2009, private collection<em>The Cut Sublime</em>, oil on canvas, 20" x 20", 2008<em>One of Us</em>, oil on canvas, 24" x 18", 2008, Private Collection<em>Three Figures</em>, oil on canvas, 17.5" x 14", 2008, Private Collection