Cleopatra

36" x 36" oil and acrylic on canvas

I consider Cleopatra to be one of my greatest successes thus far as a painter.  It is also a perfect product of my unique method of painting.  Over several months, I applied many emotional layers of paint and continued to step away and revisit the work.  Eventually, a character in a headdress revealed itself to me and I outlined it and started contrasting it from the background.  Towards the end of the journey, I noticed a second character - an angel - whose wing had been present in the painting since very early on.  After bringing this character to light, all that was left to do was bring the piece balance.  Amidst all the chaos of the painting, I used large areas of solid colors to calm the piece down and create more definitive focal points.  In creating this work, I was largely influenced by one of my favorite painters, Jean-Michel Basquiat.