| Fashion photography like that of Richard Avedon was the inspiration for this painting. 'Olivia' is meant to have a look that is mysterious, aloof, haunting, unapproachable, unattainable....and yet glamorous and, most important of all, fashionable. I wanted Olivia to capture the essence of a Christian Dior fashion model circa the mid-1950's. The name Olivia was derived from the color pallette, the background is rendered in shades of olive green a color I had not used in previous paintings. I purposely kept most of the tones dark, Olivia's gown is a somber violet-gray while her cape is violet-blue. I like my paintings to have a limited number of colors and I usually choose an unusual color scheme. For Olivia's eye color I used; what else? Olive green. |
