Golden GirlDeelee

It was her look. Direct, sure of itself, not asking anything of me.

None of the gold in this painting is paint. It is real gold leaf, laid onto the canvas: the elements on her clothing, the hat, and everything behind her. There is no gold in oil paint. Whatever you build with it is a pile of decisions pretending to be something it cannot be, so on this one I stopped asking it to pretend.

What I actually wanted was the rest of her. Her breasts and her stomach held my attention longer than anything else in that photograph, and they were what had to be painted. That is where the weeks went.

It ended without a decision. I kept going and at some point everything had fallen into place, organically, with nothing left that wanted changing.

What do you do with it?

Inspired by a photograph of Dutch Deelee. Second of two canvases of Deelee.

Buying it is the easy part

The photograph this came from was made to be scrolled past. It got three seconds, if that. This canvas took weeks, and it will hang on a wall for years and be seen every day.

Ordering it takes a minute. Deciding where it goes is the part that takes nerve, because everyone who walks into that room will see it and think something. That part is yours.

About this work

Original oil and gold leaf on canvas. One of a kind.

• Medium — oil and real gold leaf on stretched canvas
• Size — 80 × 60 cm (height × width)
• Edition — one of one, signed. Not a print and not an edition.
• Series — Painted Idols, oil portraits of women who are looked at for three seconds at a time
• Studio — Boekel, the Netherlands
• Shipping — insured from the Netherlands, certificate of authenticity included