Buxom (2011)

For this series, I have put together a series of portrait paintings of "plus sized" women whom I have come to know over the years--women that have had an influence, each in her own capacity, on the person I am becoming.

I happen to find a full figure to be particularly attractive and far more demonstrative of womanhood than the typical supermodel frame that is currently touted as the criterion against which western women so often judge their own bodies.  I don't ascribe to the idea that beauty must conform to narrowly defined, culturally sanctioned standards.  To make unfair comparisons like this is to categorize women into what is, essentially, a caste system of hierarchy that devalues a woman's worth based not on her virtues, but on physical appearance alone.

The goal of this series is to depict these subjects as the strong, confident, sexy women that they are and rightly should be.  However, I want to carefully avoid the pitfalls of pure objectification, making certain it is understood that the is a mind behind each face.

Jessica

Megan

Rebecca

Jennifer

Nikkila

Christy