Empowered | Pop Art Woman Portrait Oil Painting

About Empowered

A woman's head and shoulders fill the canvas against a flat pale grey background. Her face is cut into panels of colour: one side pale violet and white, the other washed in orange and cream, with a small white triangle on the cheek and rows of orange dashes along the jaw and neck. Both eyes are painted realistically, green-grey with dark lashes, and the lips are a deep plum brown. Her hair is built from overlapping shapes: blue feather scales, a chequerboard of orange and white squares, yellow stripes, pink lettering and a white star.

The shoulders continue the same collage, with blue scalloped scales, a dark brown feathered wing shape and small bars of red and cream. Paint is applied smoothly and flatly with crisp edges between each block of colour, so the surface reads graphic rather than textured. The character is bold and poster-like, but the carefully modelled eyes keep a human gaze at the centre of all the pattern.

Suits a hallway, bedroom or open living wall painted white or soft grey, where the orange and cobalt can carry the room. Works with mid-century timber furniture, black metal shelving, brass lamps and plain linen. Good as a single statement piece above a sideboard, sofa or bed rather than in a busy gallery wall. Browse more pop art, women in art.