Phyllis with Guitar and Mirror 1950

Frank Mason painted "Phyllis with Guitar and Mirror" with oils to conjure an intimate moment of contemplation. There's a quiet stillness in the way Mason builds up the layers of paint, thin washes for the luminous skin tones and thicker impasto to catch the light on the folds of fabric. The way he handles the paint reminds me of Vermeer, all that subtle, diffused light that spills across the scene. I love how the darks are so velvety, like in her skirt. Then, the unexpected jolt of the red curtain, which pulls you into the pictorial space. Take a look at the reflection in the mirror, at the woman's face. The edges are soft as if fading like a memory or a half-remembered dream. It’s this kind of poetic ambiguity that makes painting so endlessly fascinating, isn't it? We're left to fill in the gaps, to bring our own experiences and feelings to the work. It’s this exchange, this open-endedness, that keeps the conversation going.