Happy Labor Day!

"The red hat" by Hilary J. England
8" x 11" oil on canvas, 2013

I've started messing around with doing some whimsical paintings again.  I saw a young woman in the park with a giant red hat, which just screamed for attention, yet she seemed uncomfortable with both the hat and the day in general.  When she turned her back to me, I got to studying her hat and her silhouette against the bright, hazy blue sky, and thought: without seeing her face, the mystery of her story is very intriguing.  She can have so many things, either positive or negative, that are affecting her, and yet, with her back against the plane of vision, and her face to the sky, she is an enigma.

So, she could have heaven or hell seething in her eyes, she could have just won the lottery, or gotten a break-up e-mail from her boyfriend...we never know what is happening in the privacy behind the curtain or veil of our faces.  So, I painted the red hat.

I'll probably start doing some more figurative work, since I have some portrait commissions to complete, and much like an actor, I like to stay in character while I am working on a project.  So, that should be both interesting and challenging for me.

In the meantime, enjoy the end-of-Summer Labor Day holiday!