Agatha Christie - Portrait of an Author

The fourth of my favorite female authors of the past, Agatha Christie.

She is associated with my teenage years. I have always enjoyed a good murder mystery and now, I relive her novels through TV adaptations on PBS - the brilliant British MYSTERY series. The Edward Gorey animated illustrations intros are so perfectly suited for this series. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are inextricably linked to Agatha Christie. Perhaps they will end up in the portrait as well - I will see later.

This is a women who bridged the Victorian with the Modern age. You can see her below, at a younger age, looking old world elegant in her Victorian outfit and later, looking younger in her Coco Chanel style modern girl attire.

For this piece, I found this beautifully embossed old hardcover book. Thicker than the other books. Aside from the embossing, what I found particularly appealing was the title What Happened to Peg, implying a mystery. The Peg of the title could be replaced by Agatha. When learning of her husband's infidelity, she disappeared. There were fears that she'd committed suicide and a massive hunt was triggered . Very much in the spirit of Agatha's work. The embossed pattern on the spine and cover is reminiscent of the Art Deco style, also perfect for this subject. This embossing pattern is even more textured than the one used for Beatrix Potter's portrait so I hope it won't give me too much problems. Exploring new grounds on which to apply my stroke and challenging my abilities puts me at risk of failure, but makes me grow as an artist by getting me out of my comfort zone.

As with the other books, it will be glued shut and will be left to completely dry for a week. It will then be primed and ready for the portrait.

I see Weeping Willow branches hanging over water, designed in the typical symetric style of the Art Deco period.

Let's see how Agatha Christie's portrait turns out.