Little Sister

Oil on canvas, 46 x 36

Artist Statement: My portraiture is infused with emotional content, expressing the vulnerability and longing of my mostly female subjects. I explore portraiture in its many aspects: Traditional, in which appearance and character is foremost; Expressionistic, in which the inner life is heightened, and Stylized, in which the image becomes iconic. I am known for my use of exuberant color, elegant drawing and modern design. Little Sister possesses many of the qualities found in my work: a feeling of aliveness even without a literal verisimilitude, an emotional resonance, and exuberance of color and patterning. The odd fact is that I painted her without the doll, and then added it later. She seemed to need something, and I had purchased the old doll in a flea market in France that past summer. I painted in the doll and miraculously, it completed the work and gave it extra meaning–what that is, exactly, I leave to the viewer to decide.

Carolyn Schlam is a painter, sculptor, glass artist and published author. Her current work is primarily figurative and executed in oil, ink, mixed media, collage and glass. She resides and has her studio in southern California. Carolyn is the author of The Creative Path: A View from the Studio on the Making of Art, published by Skyhorse Publishing in 2018, a treatise on the creative process from psychological, philosophical, and practical points of view, and The Joy of Art: How to Look At, Appreciate and Talk About Art, a full color volume on the subject of art appreciation from an artist’s lens. This latter book is being sold worldwide in English and has been sold to publishers in China, Taiwan and Korea for translation. 

A Song for Carolyn