Nefertiti

 

Nefertiti 31 x 23 inches, 1986

One of the few paintings I have saved for myself, this early portrait of Nefertiti has been hanging behind my bedroom/studio door for more than twenty years.  I painted it almost two years before I had my first art show in 1988, and it was the results from this effort that spurred to work full time as an artist with the idea of being a  selling professional.  After finishing it, I deluded myself into thinking I kinda, sorta had something here.  Perhaps I was wrong: this piece was eventually offered for sale, but there were no takers.  Only years later, after I decided not to sell it, was there any interest in it.

The painting was executed with my early technique.  I mixed tempera paints in coke bottle caps and when they dried I reliquified the paint to a thick consistency with saliva and applied it with flexible plastic styluses made from whipped cream containers and from sewing needles.  The flesh was done with a pointelist technique, little dots of various shades and tints painstakingly applied with a needle.  The painting surface, in this case, consisted of strips of curtain stiffening glued to illustration board and then foamboard.  It provided the perfect texture for the technique.  I employed this technique for several years, but I'm not sure I achieved  as much success with any of my subsequent efforts.  I went on to produce many paintings of Egyptian queens and princesses over a period of years.  This particular piece, although it's not a patch on the famous painted bust in the Berlin Museum, nevertheless continues to hold a certain mystique for me.  

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