Winter in St Petersburg, Russia

I generally don’t like winter. The cold air of the outside, the dry and staticky air of the inside, sweaters, jackets, boots… you name it.  Yet I like pictures of winter. I like seeing the fairly-tale-like combination of the fresh white snow and the orange-yellow lights of cafes and streetlamps. It just looks full of magic.

I spent my most recent winters in St Petersburg, Russia and so here is my representation of the beauty that is St Petersburg in the winter.

Winter in St Petersburg

Oil on canvas, 24 cm x 19 cm or 9.5″ x 7.5″

The Menina Fever

Living in Spain and seeing so many different representations of La Menina around, I just had to give my own Menina a try. Las Meninas is a famous painting by Diego Velazquez — a painting that gathers crowds daily at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Google it and you’ll recognize the image immediately. A little princess in a bigger-than-life skirt with a glance that can rival that of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, stands surrounded by luxury and doting meninas, the maids of honor.

My Menina is different, of course. And it’s dynamic — you can move and position the pieces any way you like. That’s why I call it Interactive Menina.

Interactive Menina

Oil on Canvas, 6 triangular canvases with 8″ (20cm) sides

Courage

Inspired by the courage of so many women around the world…

Courage

Oil on Canvas; 16″ x 19″ or 40 cm x 50 cm

Selected for publication in a literary magazine TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, April 2013 Issue “Preoccupation”