Queen Loana (23)

"Queen Loana (23)", oil on canvas, 24x24 in. For sale on Etsy.

Two small plastic toy animals, a zebra and a giraffe, stand in front of my drawing of a model wearing an animal print cape (possibly ocelot) during a recent Milan Fashion Week. The drawing is cut out and attached to my abstracted drawing of a still from one of several brief Vine videos I made of rusted objects along the Monon Trail in Indianapolis. I play a little randomizing game to choose the subject matter for my art. My three random elements for this painting were the color Milanese Blue (color #23 in Naomi Kuno's Colorscape book), the color rust, and zoos.

While I worked on this painting, I read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I had already started painting the model in animal print when I reached the part of the book that explained who Queen Loana was. The model seemed to be an appropriate stand-in for the character. The book is partly set in Milan, and the author lives in Milan.

The soundtrack for this painting is the Rusted Guns of Milan radio station on Pandora. That's what I listened to both while reading the book and making the painting. The song is by the band Art Brut. If you haven't heard it, you should check it out. The subject of it is unique.