I receive great satisfaction in portraying these women, many of whom are not part of today's pop culture.  In addition, I enjoy giving my audience the experience of connecting with these icons.  Clearly, my work is a deeply personal, subjective journey.  The persons that I choose for my photographs, whether they were famous, notorious, or capricious, exemplified courage and faithfulness in their beliefs and many overcame immense obstacles in their factual or fictional lives.   

When I create each portrait, my intention is never to impersonate but to embody each woman.  These photographs are never taken; instead, these powerful icons give their images to me generously, but sometimes a little reluctantly, perhaps because I examine their lives so closely.

My work is multi-layered.  I conceptualize a pictorial backdrop for each tableau, distilling my knowledge and investigation of my subject into a single image.  I have a strong love for painting and hand-paint all the backdrops used for these photographs, often by referencing actual paintings, film and documentary images to embellish my overall vision.  I then gather costumes and props, the "stage" is set, the lights go on and the photograph is made.

These large format images are printed on watercolor paper.  Depending on my color concept for each photograph, I choose carbon sepia or selenium black & white tones for the final print.  Each finished portrait is then selectively hand-colored using artist pencils and soft pastels.  Every print is a limited edition, original work of art.