Teresa (Terry) Bailey: Tea Gypsy
Artist(s):
Title:
- Tea Gypsy
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2003
Size:
- 29 inches x 34 inches
Category:
Keywords:
Artist Statement:
“Tea Gypsy” is the second in a series of paintings I am creating with the thematic subject of tea. It reflects my fascination with anti-illusionism, a technique I studied as a film student in undergraduate school. I intentionally left several of my original sketch lines on the nose, mouth, and elsewhere. And I left portions of the face in a somewhat unfinished state. All to pay homage to this anti-illusionism in art. All to remind viewers that they are looking at a work of art, not a photograph or reality. All to jar viewers into reflecting on the piece rather than simply being absorbed by it.
“Tea Gypsy” is a study in the contrast of traditional art and digital art. I painted the portrait face of my character in traditional-looking techniques of oil, pastel, and ink lines; in the computer, I am able to simulate the look of those traditional media. T he remainder of the image is devoted to digital technique. It would not be possible tci paint the light-filled stained glass background with any traditional art medium; likewise, the pattern that I painted and overlaid into the drapery and head-scarf is the result of digital tools and techniques, which have no equal in the traditional art tool world.
“Tea Gypsy” is a portrait and a self-portrait. She is a portrait of Barbara Karp, the most remarkable woman I have known: a writer, opera director, and inspiring muse to me. One day Barbara said: “Terry, we have the same green eyes.” I shared with her the first print of the painting I made, melding our eyes, the last time I saw Barbara, on the eve of her death. I never told her it was a portrait of both of us, a way for me to capture her and hold her with me for eternity. But I am sure she knew. She was that perceptive and intuitive.
“Tea Gypsy” is about life and emotion. I attempted to paint every emotion I could conjure with my digital brush into her two eyes. All the emotions my friend Barbara and I faced together as we visited and talked during her last months on this planet. Fear, innocence, anger, sadness, joy, awe … My greatest joy now is to see people stand before this painting and discover those emotions in themselves as they gaze at her.
