Original artwork description:

I’d had a painting stuck in my studio for a few months and I wasn’t sure how to resolve it. A portrait of a stern woman looking out from the canvas that lacked a narrative or depth. The story of La Llorona is a legendary ghost woman in Latin American folklore who, according to the myth, weeps for her lost children and is often heard crying near bodies of water.

Quite tragic really. But it reminded me of the painting of Ophelia by John Everette Millais and I remembered how back when starting to look at paintings I had found the ghostly tones of the Pre-Raphaelites interesting and how they built layers over greens or blues to give a pale richness to the translucent skin tones. Here it’s reversed with the blue wash on top but it has a similar effect of creating something ghostly and semi-transparent, as if submerged.

Materials used:

Oil paint on canvas

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