Aretha No. 50 Artwork

Historians use the art of written words to tell stories of the past. Artists use physical art itself. As someone who struggles to articulate words, I use art to tell stories and observations of icons, both past and present, and their profound impact on history and culture. How their words, songs, movies, poems, and quotes speak to the plight of human existence. Often mistaken for screen prints, the portraits themselves, always shown in black and white, are hand painted using acrylic. Each background varies between two studies of the icon. One look focuses on the color aura of the icon using a palette knife technique. The other is a mixed media patchwork study, telling stories about the icon, their journey, and legacy.