Eve’s Insatiable Hunger
The Madonna of the Fuzzy Bunny Slippers
The Madonna of the Fuzzy Bunny Slippers
Classic Footwear, Illustrations, Renaissance, Watercolors
he Madonna of the Fuzzy Bunny Slippers is my reinterpretation of DiegoVelasquez’s Immaculate Conception. The original painting, painted by Velasquez in 1619, hangs in the National Gallery in London.
His painting has always been important to me not only because of his masterful use of oil paints, but his use of an average Spanish woman to portray Mary. The commoner was used to portray the ideal and perfect woman to his local Spanish audience. Playing off of Velasquez’s interpretation of Mary as an approachable figure, the slippers are a nod to her modern relatability. The bearer of the Christ child should at least be allowed comfortable footwear…and for all we know from the original painting, she could very well have had them on…
This painting was done in many transparent layers of watercolor. The style mimics that of the original Velasquez painting, though that was actually done in oil paints (and was a great deal larger).
Watercolor on Windsor Newton cold press (signed and numbered prints available)
Fra Angelico Angel
Fra Angelico Angel
Renaissance, Watercolors
– February 18, 1455) was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having “a rare and perfect talent”.
Fra Angelico was working at a time when the style of painting was in a state of change. This process of change had begun a hundred years previous with the works of Giotto and several of his contemporaries, notably Giusto de’ Menabuoi, both of whom had created their major works in Padua, although Giotto was trained in Florence by the great Gothic artist, Cimabue, and painted a fresco cycle of St Francis in the Bardi Chapel in the Basilica di Santa Croce. Giotto had many enthusiastic followers, who imitated his style in fresco, some of them, notably the Lorenzetti, achieving great success.
In this piece, I created a watercolor reproduction of one of the angels from the Linaioli Triptych. The figure is one of many musical angel that border the central panel of the altarpiece in the Tabernacle of the Linaioli. The tabernacle is in the National Mueum of San Marco in Florence Italy. The angel is painted with watercolor, but gesso was used for small areas of raised embellishments and gold leaf was applied to the background and sanded to reveal a red undertone. I built the frame specifically for the piece, painted and adorned the panels and gold leafed the frame as well. This was a commissioned piece and is owned by a private buyer.
Watercolor on Windsor Newton cold press with gesso and gold leaf. Privately owned.