My mom and her sisters were a tight-knit bunch.
Separated by age, careers, and geography, the Clemens Sisters didn’t see each other often, but when they did – it was as if they had never been apart.
This piece is based on one of the few photographs we have of them as adults. Though it was taken at the funeral of the eldest sister’s husband, you’d never know that. It was never a dull moment with this bunch.
I edited the photo, enlarged it, removed many of the details, and cropped and simplified it. You can see the original below.
For the background, I covered a canvas with vintage sheet music that I painted over, fabric pieces, and buttons. After I’d placed the sisters on the canvas, I struggled with how to bring them to the forefront without making them fussy. I kept hearing in my head how they wanted new dresses. Ok, ok! So I made them new dresses from origami paper.
When I took the edited photo to have it printed, the clerk exclaimed, “Who are they? They look like a singing group! They look like they are about to take a bow.”
They do, don’t they?
Go ahead. Take a bow, ladies.
Title: My Darling Clementine
Medium: Collage with printed photo, vintage sheet music, fabric, origami paper, buttons
Size: 24 x 20 inches on gallery wrapped canvas
Signed: on the back
Exhibited: Reverse Archeology; Artists of Rubber City Members Show
