A Bird in the Hand

It all began with a photo.

Rosa is a friend of mine. She has an exotic beauty that reminds me of the Italian goddesses of the cinema (Sophia Loren and Company) and shares their heritage.  When I saw this photo, I asked her husband to send it to me because a painting was forming in my head that I wanted to make for them. I made a black and white copy, blew it up and printed it, then went to work.

I had no idea that, as I was finishing this, Sophia Loren's book was being released.

I love creating these "portraits".  I think I'm going to start taking commissions......
 

Simplicity is the removal of the useless and the unnecessary--source unknown