Liberty wanting you to choose her for your team

Thursday 6 March 2008 - Comments / Commentaires (3)

I combined myself with the Statue of Liberty for Apple Pie since we both have our origins in France. In order to create this painting, I needed photos from which to work. I started out by trying to photograph myself.

Portland artist Gwenn Seemel

The camera angle was a difficult one.

Portland artist Gwenn Seemel

And I wasn’t getting quite what I wanted! My arm didn’t look like it was part of my body.

Portland artist Gwenn Seemel

photo by David

So I asked David (my lovely assistant and partner in crime) to photograph me. I knew I wanted the final image to be from below, since it used to be possible to view the Statue that way. Also, by the time David got involved in the process, I had decided that I should not be holding a torch.

Portland artist Gwenn Seemel

photo by David

The Statue’s official title is Liberty Enlightening The World. I thought that a Lady Liberty in today’s world would more aptly be called Liberty Wanting You To Choose Her For Your Team—thus the raised, open hand. Of course, we had to get the angle of my hand just right. In this image, it looks like I’m going to slap the viewer…

Portland artist Gwenn Seemel

photo by David

This is the image from which I worked to create the painting.

sketching in charcoal on canvas

This is my old, cold, moldy studio with the charcoal sketch for Liberty on the primed linen. I don’t normally paint on linen, but I decided to use some of my French grandmother’s old linen sheets for this painting.

Gwenn Seemel's self-portrait as liberty

Gwenn Seemel
Liberty
2007
acrylic on linen
42 x 19 inches
(detail below)

detail image, painting in grisaille

This painting was a challenge for a few reasons, but the most complicated aspect ended up being the “grisaille” (or “green-aille” as it were) palette. I had a hard time conveying all the subtleties of an expression working only in shades and nuances of green.