At the time I completed the Painted Ladies collection, specifically the over-sized painted canvases, my work often reminded people of Patrick Nagel’s. If you are not familiar with Patrick Nagel’s work, he is probably most well-known for Duran Duran’s Rio Album cover.
Painted Ladies Collection: Over-sized Canvas Painting of Beauty. Art by Deborah Marsh
Patrick Nagel was an American artist who created popular illustrations on board, paper, and canvas. His work emphasized the female form in a distinctive style descended from Art Deco. He is best known for his illustrations for Playboy and, of course, the album cover for Duran Duran.
What specifically is similar in our styles?
We both emphasize the female form in somewhat of a distinctive style. Although Nagel’s style is much more reminiscent of Art Deco than mine, we both like to use paper and canvas. We also produce more illustrative and less traditionally structured subjects. We both love bold colors; however, I tend to mix a lot more color variations than Nagel’s work portrays.
The other difference too is in the perspective of the subjects.
Nagel tends to have more proportionate forms, whereas mine tend to be more exaggerated. For instance, the faces I draw tend to be bigger, longer, and more pronounced. Nagel’s proportions are more realistic despite the lack of shading or defined features. This holds true for the full form of my subjects versus Nagel’s.
Sometimes, I feel my shapes are descended from Pablo Picasso’s Cubism period mixed with his Blue period.
All in all, my style is unique and one-of-a-kind. It is a makeup of all the direct and indirect influences in my life.
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To learn more about my Painted Ladies Collection, check out future posts from Debbie’s Living Canvas. You also learn more about me, by visiting my About page.