Around 1680, Dutch painter Simon Verelst (1644-1710) painted a portrait of Mary of Modena. Mary was queen of England from 1685 to 1689.
I digitally simplified the portrait and placed it on a black background while working on that. It was originally my idea to eventually remove the black background and replace it with another, but suddenly I saw how miraculously the human brain fills in Mary's clothes before our eyes. It is as if she is wearing a black dress, even though the image only shows her head and arms.
I gave her a pillar in the colour of her brooch, to rest her arm on. I wanted to make her as comfortable as possible because from what I have read about her, she has not had an easy life.
The stylists at Art Heroes call my art style ‘Art with a Wink’. And I couldn't agree more. Life is serious enough as it is, don't you think? ;-)
I mainly make surrealist artworks and collages, because in those artstyles I can so wonderfully unleash my creativity and unbridled..
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