Shamari, 2024. Colored pencil, acrylic paint, and airbrush on glued cyanotype prints. Exposed family and playground photo negatives, flora, doilies, salt, beads, lock and keys, void stickers, lace, and chains. 38 x 75 inches.

The fourth portrait in my Rest Series is based on my beautiful friend Shamari who works full-time in conservation work and part time as a teacher. She is a joy to be around and full of boundless energy, despite her never-ending work. I have never seen her sleep so I am manifesting rest for her. This larger than life painting is a work in progress. I plan to continue extending my canvas by glueing together more prints and eventually paint the whole figure from head to toe.

I took this picture on July 7th, 2024 to capture the first step of my process. While this may not look like much, this is how each project starts. I lay out my prints and identify what will be used, where and how. I have learned to typically put the brightest whites of my prints wherever I will be painting skin so that it shows up best. I do use a digital mock up and my projector to help me with this process.

An in-progress shot of my painting process. I had not finished gluing all the prints together before I started painting. Working in this flexible manner gives me total control over my canvas. I can determine both shape and size. The process of glueing and pressing many prints together takes days because I can only do one section at a time and I want the glue to bond well.