Julia Dean Portrait 2013

Felice House created this oil painting, Julia Dean Portrait, with visible brushstrokes and a warm palette of oranges, browns, and greens. You can almost feel the artist's presence, right? Layering the paint, adding, subtracting, searching. I imagine Felice House standing in front of the canvas, squinting, tilting her head, trying to capture not just Julia Dean's likeness, but also something of her inner life. The way the light hits the side of her face, that intense, maybe troubled, expression. Look at that hand, the way it delicately touches her temple. It's a gesture that speaks volumes, right? Like she's deep in thought, or maybe warding something off. And then there’s the almost naive rendering of the background, the green and yellow planes – so simple they let Julia Dean herself come forward. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, across space. I'm sure Felice House was, and is, in a conversation with other painters, taking something, adding something, and in the process creating something totally her own.