Why I Paint Female Nudes

For as long as I can remember I've painted the female figure. My preschool doodles were fabulous fantasy drawings of stylish divas.

Growing up the daughter of a larger than life southern interior designer and couture seamstress as well as being surrounded by second and sometimes first family Baltimore Dreamland art film crew had a huge influence on me.

Early on I was exposed to and fell in love with artists, photographers, writers and fashion designers that portrayed women in all sorts of portraits. Works and artists like Newton, The Iliad and the Odyssey, Vargas, Matisse, Lolita, Lempicka, Babar, and Rhodes are but a few. My obsession started with fashionable women but as I matured my women shed their clothing. Whereas clothing often ties the women down to a specific time period, I have always felt that the nude is timeless.

Powerful demigods, real life dolls, femme fatales, and mythological figures. Influenced by Greek Mythology and my own self-reflection my women, textiles and paintings attempt to transcend time and place.

My art works document moments of divine intervention, decision making, and the process of my own personal life.

- Amanda J.