Betty Brown's Car #1

I started this one in January of this year. I was feeling brave with acrylics on this 24 X 24 canvas. It started off as an acrylic painting that went crazy and gave me pause - What?

I bought the vintage geisha postcard months ago on Ebay - it actually shipped from Japan - and somehow got the idea to put her on this painting and see where that went. 

I have also been fascinated by these shoes for about four years. These are from a Taschen book I bought when I was working in Kansas City - "Circus." The beautiful circus performers wore them. I can only guess that they wore these rough wooden/ leather creations around the grounds, rather than ruin the little slippers that they performed in. I am intrigued by the fact that they went to the trouble to paint them (silver), and by the sturdy leather straps. They all seemed to be wearing them, back in the Barnum & Bailey day. I'm fascinated by the whole idea of female circus performers. Who isn't?

I wonder if all of these bits and pieces are actually floating around somewhere in my subconscious mind, and then somehow come together. This painting was all in blues, like the trees. The car was the color it is now. Somewhere along the line, I  boldly painted a splash of red on the side of the frame. About a week ago I glued down the geisha - printed her out on washi, cut her silhouette, added the legs (from a torn up Crane stationery box), and scanned, scaled, and printed the feet on washi, and glued them down. I use acrylic medium for adhesive. I glued the grass like paper under her feet, which connects to the bits of grass under her shoes from the photo.

This all gets so detailed, but I think it is what I love. The layers, the transparencies, the bits of dreamlike images that make sense in some far off place that can be escaped to.

There's a circus tent up on the top right but it's a little hard to make out.

A few days ago, I got a big soft brush and cadmium red paint, and just painted over most of the background with the red. I didn't notice the red on the side of the canvas until yesterday, but somewhere in my mind, that color was already waiting.

The original idea was "Betty Brown's Car". I have this memory from childhood. I'm sitting on the porch. Far down the sandy driveway, along the paved road, went Betty Brown's car. It was sort of coral red, and had fins. It must have been the light or haze at that time of day, but it seemed to hover above the road. Hence the name...