Posthumous portrait

[Tom Edgerton]

This is the third of my "Blue Trilogy." It's a posthumous portrait done from a small (2") black and white photo showing her from the neck up, in an evening dress . The canvas is 60" tall.

I rented a period suit, and an antique vase, and posed a cousin for the overall composition. I realize this is pretty loaded in terms of detail (for me) but I just wanted to explore incorporating a fairly weighty still life, just for the challenge of painting it--I wanted to see if I could balance a "bouquet that ate Cleveland" against a simple suit (plus, I just like glads). Overall, it may work more or less well, but I'm trying to push myself in complexity and be more ambitious. The curve and alignment of the stem in her hand actually happened that way, and fortunately I saw it and didn't mess it up.

This lady lived a good deal longer than this period, unfortunately with Alzheimer's disease in the last decade of her life. But as a result, her husband donated millions toward establishing a research facility for the ailment at Duke University Medical Center.

Best--TE