Putting on Lipstick

Mixed Media on Canvas

16 x 20 in

I remember when going back to Siberia in my teenage years being completely shocked by how women dressed and presented themselves in public. Just going to the grocery store meant dressing up like a supermodel. I don’t think I saw a single woman in sweatpants or a t-shirt the entire time I was there.

It made me think about how much we judge women by their appearance and not their intelligence. How some women even pretend to be dumber than they are lest they intimidate a man. Though that trip was many years ago, I reflected on it in this painting through the symbolism of the owl nesting in the woman’s neck.

acrylics and oil paint