"Real Women II"

"Real Women II"
Acrylics & Mixed media on canvas
18" X 24"

Real Women II is a painting of a mature woman playing in her garden.
Nurturing her plants as she did her children.
Everything is a wee bit off balance, as in real life nothing is ever perfect.
She is at peace with herself, and has finally broken out of the dark place that dictated that she look and perform like the fantasy woman in commercial advertising.
She is probably overweight, has a few well earned wrinkles, but no matter, she is where she wants to be at this stage in her life.
The Gold and Silver leaf falls down over her peace of mind and
celebrates her absolute beauty.
She is happy with her lot in life.
I hope you like her....she is so like myself and many of my friends.
~~Kathleen

Real Women #1

"Real Women I"
Acrylics & mixed media on canvas
12" X 14"

Above:
The final painting

Below:
the background detail
before the glazes have been added

The first in a new series.....
I am trying to convey the real woman in a realistic way.
While the concept is somewhat abstract, the message is clear.
I have used a combination of materials in these works.
Gold/Silver & Copper foil, Gel transfers and glazes.
This conveys (hopefully) the comfort a mature woman feels
in with her age.
Washing her hair with a sweetly scented soap.
Or just the pleasure of being alone in a tranquil spot.

My interpretation of this collection:
This series of paintings are very important to me.
As a maturing woman, I find that society tends to rest too much on the " False Beauty" of young women who have done nothing to deserve it (they were born with it) and they take for granted that this type of beauty is forever, and Society discards the beauty amassed by a woman of years.

Most of the mature women I know, are confident lovely people that have an unbelievable amount of beauty & intelligence within and without!

Real beauty really lies beneath the outer layers of anyone.
We, as a society, have to learn how to recognize it.
Nothing about the aged body is symmetric. Least wise mine sure is not.
I am not looking for perfection here, as perfection belongs to the young.
I am lauding the Mature woman that has accepted that she is who she is.

The Hiatus is over!

What we have been seeing for the last four days.....A Hoar Frost
to end all Hoar frosts.
To view these and any photos full size in this blog,
Please click on the picture.

For those of you following this blog, I do apologize.
I have been busy with real life, and just had to change some of my habits and reorganize others.
Hopefully now, everything is in working order and I will be back to doing my normal things again!
Blogging (this one) is at the top of my daily "To Do" list.
I have been very deeply immersed in my art as of late.
I have been working on a new series of paintings.
These paintings all depict "Real Women!"
Not the women one sees on TV/In Magazines and or any type of advertising.
I am talking about the Real Women Of our normal every work day life.
Like you & Me.
Women that have larger than depicted stomachs (Horrors!) and a bump on the nose
(as opposed to a Nose Job!)
Thick ankles, maybe short women. women that do not have perfect hair, and rough skin on hands due to real work.
Women that deal daily with a disability in a world that is not built for anything but the
(supposed)perfect human to navigate.
So, understandably, I have been totally engrossed with this series of paintings as they are all dear to my heart.

I am sincerely going to maintain my blog with no less than three posts weekly.
As some of you are aware, not all my posts are about art, but as well, my everyday life.
I am surrounded by beauty and a very rugged rural area.
I am living with my daughter & son-in-law and two wonderful grandsons
(ages 7 & almost 3 years of age)
So life is never boring and always changind.
Welcome back my friends, I will try to give you a few minutes of enjoyment through my eyes & words a few times each week!