High Tea
Oil, Coloured Silver & 24ct Gold on Canvas
120 x 100 x 4 cm
2022
I do love this piece and it was great fun to make. I live in the village where Mozart's mother was born, and where his sister Nannerl lived and raised her children. There is a great history of art and baroque in Austria, and this is my interpretation of the modern baroque theme. If you are beautiful and upper-class, there is great social tolerance for alternative coping strategies. This lady prefers pills. A great number of people in our society prefer pills and I think a great deal of the world is high all the time.
There is an expression in German "sie hat ein Vogel". Literally translated, this means "she has a bird", but it means that somebody is a bit crazy, off in the head. I had a laugh while painting the flamingo into her hair.
This piece is painted with oil on canvas and incorporates gilding with coloured silver and 24ct. gold. I love using gilding in my work, as the pieces truly become alive, moving and changing with ambient light throughout the day. If strongly lit, the paint is dominant. In lower and angled lighting, the gilding pops, glows and shines.