Hats and Woman in the Mirror

A few weeks ago I photographed a most lovely lady.  (But then, if you've read this blog more than once before, you probably know that I think all my "ladies" are lovely!)  We had an interesting quandary - she was completely willing to show her face and have us all know who she is, but her company has a "morals clause" which states that she may be fired if she does anything which might embarrass the company.  She had some concerns that appearing nude in paintings might be construed to be embarrassing for the company so she chose to have me photograph her "faceless".  What a shame!  She's quite wonderful looking!

Despite that restriction, or perhaps because of it (restrictions are something to push against so often create situations I wouldn't have considered before, and thus very interesting pictures), we got some wonderful pictures.  She brought some fabulous hats with huge brims which were made by Ignatius Hats from Petersburg, VA.  The hat to the right is by them - don't you just LOVE IT??!!  The two she had were amazing - perfect for wearing to the races which is exactly what she got them for.  They were great for these photos too - they cover her face but leave her looking coy or playful or demure or mysterious (depending on the particular picture).  I plan to begin that picture next.

The one I did first is of her torso in the mirror with strong light thrown across her belly.  I love the drama of the shadows and the light and the startling element of her blond white hair.  The piece is 16"x20", unusually small for me, but I didn't have a larger canvas ready to go at the time because Chris, bless him, was hard at work on his masterpiece, the frame for "Don't Mess With Me".  This piece is called "Woman in the Mirror."