When I started to create my first "Venusmachines", I asked friends, if their daughter wanted to model for me. Although still a teenager at the time, she was quite excited and from the beginning, she did an extraordinary job.

I still work with her today. Her parents are very proud of their daughter being represented in a number of my works and now they commissioned me to do a kind of portrait of her. Knowing, that it wouldn't just be someone sitting there, making a pretty face...

The young lady found her passion in dressmaking, and specialized in the custom made "Dirndl", a traditional Bavarian outfit for women. Just to give you an idea, here a (not so traditional) version from a recent photoshoot with my wife and another friend.

The biggest step in such a commission for me is the idea behind the painting. To make it unusual, eye catching and different, yet aesthetic. I don't mind an artwork to be disturbing, when that fits the subject, but in a portrait of a young woman, you also want to bring out her beauty.. which is always harder than ugliness! A painting can easily get ugly on its own, beauty is always related to effort.. even when is supposed to look effortless in the end ;-)

The painting idea came originally from a whole different project, the "Hommage aux Maitres" (Tribute to the old masters), by the French artists group "Libellule" I am a member of. My plan was to take the turban of the famous van Eyck painting and combine it with my own elements...

...similar to what I had done with Botticelli's Venus.

As I worked with my talented model, this became more and more a project of its own. Among the other paintings I had created with their daughter, her parents liked this one the best and finally commissioned me to do this "portrait" for them.

This is a photo of the work in progress and shows the so called underpainting. That means, I paint only with white on a midtone, in this case a orange-ish English red. This way, one builds up the form first and then adds color in very thin oil glazes. Here I'm already working on a second layer of this underpainting, after a glaze of ocre was applied and the shadows in the skin tones got a touch of green. That gives a nice tone later, when thin glazes of the actual skin tone are put on top of it.

The painting shows my young dressmaker partly with her face, but also with what she does. When she talks about her work and how she develops her piece, to me it feels as if she was painting with fabric. Of course I like the fact, that there is a (sewing) machine involved, and I could add some more technical elements.

I'm thinking about also doing a version on glass. I had done several glass paintings with her, like the "Hallelujahmachine"...

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All photos/scans by me of my own artwork

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