Coincidence
Happy New Year, everyone!
Today is the birthday of painter Paula Rego, who I first heard about when I was studying art in England in the early 90s and whose work inspires me on many levels. Not the least of which is that she is not only a woman but a mother who managed to nevertheless have a serious career as an artist. Pretty unusual.
But her work is great too, all by itself. This early piece of hers is one of my favorites:
But she is better known for her later work, which features women and girls in many different allegorical and somewhat mysterious situations.
Anyway, there was an odd coincidence a few years ago when I was flipping through a book on her work and ran across this painting:
I had never seen this piece of hers before, but a number of years previously I had done this painting:
Although they are very different, the similarities were surprising to me then and still are now. It is not a common pose.
So happy birthday to Paula Pego, who I now think of as some kind of painting cousin of mine, thanks to this coincidence!