This week I got a great response from one of my favourite bloggers who runs The Kissed Mouth, a site about all things Pre Raphaelite and Victorian. Kirsty Stonell Walker is the author of two novels about the Pre Raphaelite muses, Fanny Cornforth and Alexa Wilding (both favourites of Dante Gabriel Rossetti who is the style inspiration behind my latest painting).
She said she loved my work and thought it was 'lovely', which is praise indeed from a fellow Pre Raphaelite fanatic, and a published one at that!
I spent another contented day working away at Grace's face on Tuesday and have started to put in the deeper shades and contouring. Again this process is so much like applying make up sometimes it's just one small step away from make up brushes to paint brushes!
I have a few days off work coming up so I am looking forward to spending more time at the studio and really pushing on with this piece. It is such a joy to me to be using one of my favourite artists as inspiration for something that is still considered a controversial subject matter.
When I wonder what Rossetti would think of his style being used as a platform to celebrate transgender femininity I can't help thinking he'd be quite pleased. He was ever a one for liberal thinking and championing left wing causes (they were a free thinking crowd those Pre Raphaelites!); Siding with abolitionists against American slavery during the civil war, using models of mixed race and encouraging his wife to become a fellow artist, I'm sure Rossetti would have approved of this most recent collaboration, or at least have found it entertaining :)
Stay tuned as the project continues,
Gemma***
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