I had this idea a few years ago for a school assignment. I was trying to think of a theme for a series of paintings and I was looking at old make-up and clothing ads. I wanted to re-create the ads with more sinister elements as a commentary on using fur and animal testing for beauty products. I ended up not doing the series, but this particular idea stuck in my head, and I decided to paint it in the spring of '12.
I put the original ad underneath as a way to compare and contrast. The idea for the bladed glove came from Paul Outerbridge's Woman with Claws, which I saw years and years ago. I remember the website I saw it on referred to the gloves as old meat-packing gloves, but while doing research for this painting, I couldn't find any other references to these gloves as meat-packing gloves, so who knows.
I'm mostly happy with this painting. The colors aren't quite right, and I had a hard time making the blood convincing, but I'm happy with how close it resembles the original ad. The paper I was using for this painting wasn't exactly ideal, so there was a bit of puddling and that was a bit frustrating. I also wish I had done the lips more like how they appear in the ad. I honestly don't remember why I painted them differently.
Watercolor on cold press.
