Diva 12
To vie the entire Diva Collection please visit my gallery at www.angelles.deviantart.com

I've had a few questions about the "Diva's" that I have chosen to share here on My Space.  Its a Series that is actually very close to my heart since I've seen many professional models and actresses live this life everyday.  Many of them my friends.  So below I've given the basic meaning of "What Are The Diva's All About?" and for more of them you can visit my site above.

Know that permission was given to me to paint the images that you see here on My Space - from the model/photographer and you can find more details about that also at my site.  There is just no room to put all of that info here.  But special thanks to Mehmet Turgut, Valerie Sangin, Mariev and Maroline for being so gracious as to let me use their remarkable photography as guides into my Diva series.  I am eternally grateful.

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We are all in our own minds a mirror of what others see. We do project what we think is pleasing to others... and this so often distorts us, not only to others, but in the end our very selves. We sit poised in silence waiting for what is to come next, so that we can once again distort ourselves into that perfect someone, and then "present" ourselves in the pleasing package. But what is the cost? And when we are so bent and crooked that we can no longer even find ourselves, are we then truly lost?

The Diva Series:

These paintings are about people who live life in the spot light... or public eye. They become so obsessed making themselves into what the public wants them to be that they lose who they really are, and become soul-less. They just sortof wander like the dead, smiling, from one show to the next. Exhausted, empty and wondering why they ever wished for fame in the first place. To live one moment of a "normal life" is out of reach... and life is just a show.

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Layers and layers and LAYERS of paint. I used a reference photo, but changed the models face, especially her eyes and lips to change her expression and capture what I wanted. I wanted her hair to look like "cobwebs" (in reference to Diva 12) since basically it is her last show - she is old now in the eyes of the public even though in truth she is still quite young. But she is so afraid of what will happen to her now, she feels the tiny pull of so many fingers on her, like spiders running thru her hair. The curtains are hand painted and PLEASE, after Diva 11 and 12, if I ever mention painting curtains again please me! I also added the signature "dangling cross" of course. This took a LOT of hours, but worth every moment.

The crosses have TWO meanings:

1. Since these Diva's are so lost they cling to this symbol for some sort of strength, although they have forgotten what it really is - it isn't religious, its just symbolic of a false sense of security. That everything will be OK.

2. They are idolized and WORSHIPPED by the masses... so the symbol is sortof a double meaning, again not religious, that they have become what is worshipped, and there is nothing inside them at all - people are worshiping and idolizing something that is hollow and empty = which means that people will always believe what they want to believe in the end, each of us has our own reality and vision of truth.

and there you have it....

This is 80 ainting and 20anip. So enjoy!

Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite P2
Each Diva (all 12 of them) took between 15 to 40 hours.  For specific information, visit each Diva.