Cecily & Gwendolyn (original paintings)

In the spring of 2007, I saw a large gallery show, then a major Dali retrospective at the Los Angeles County Art Museum. I had been adrift in my painting for awhile and the combination fantasy and surreal images turned me to a new direction. I spent some months rehoning the skills of detailed painting and looking for a central character to anchor the ideas that I was sketching. All the ideas were narrative and surreal.

Then in September my oldest sister died. I had a special relationship to her. Several days after her death, the two dinosaur like characters came to me. I considered naming them for us. Then I realized this series would be successful only if I stepped away a bit. I renamed the characters Cecily and Gwendolyn. [Cecily and Gwendolyn are characters from an Oscar Wilde play.] Cecily (red) is for my sister. Gwendolyn is blue and has a hole in her heart forever.

There are to date, 18 paintings in this series. All are acrylic on panel, framed, and range in size from 8"x10" to 16"x20. They are narrative and very detailed. All 18 were shown at one time at the Desert Pride Center last Nov-Dec. Several have since sold. They can be viewed on my website.