This one of a kind original painting was completed in 2020, it is loved by many who've followed its creation on facebook and instagram. There are no full sized duplicates of this painting on canvas. I do not sell full sized prints and I do not sell prints on canvas. I do not paint duplicate original paintings or paint embellishments on prints. There is not another painting like this one in the world, and it could be yours, because it is still available!
The painting is 40 inches tall by 30 inches wide on gallery wrapped canvas. It comes with a removable half inch black floater frame. Shipping and Tax are included in the price. The painting comes with the story about the painting, and the artist statement for the "Just For Fun" Art Show. There is a signature on the front of the painting, the piece is also signed on the back with the name of the painting, date of completion, and a stamp of Leah's actual finger print.
When you buy a painting from this site, you are buying directly from me, the artist, Leah Kiser. Your purchase helps keep my business operational, and helps me keep painting more work like this.
The Story Behind This Painting:
The Story Behind “Hooker’s Dream”
I've never spent so long on a painting as I did with this one. I knew it was going to be a challenge when I started, but the idea was so beautiful in my mind that I wanted to see it through.
Hooker’s Dream was originally painted to be a part of my first solo show “Just For Fun.” At the time, I was pushing the realism in my work while maintaining the humorous and whimsical subject matter of my prior work. The show was to take place at {9} The Gallery in Phoenix, Arizona in January of 2021, then it was postponed, and eventually canceled due to COVID-19.
I've used lace in a few previous paintings, and I loved the complexity and intricacy of it. I like the way that it implies the form that it is draped over even though it has all of these patterned cut outs. I decided I wanted to make an animal with it, but what? I thought for a long time about it, and nothing seemed to work with what I had in mind. Then I asked myself - What is the most beautiful flowy animal you've ever seen?" The pictures of fish on the Apple IPhone box (the betas with the big rippling fins) came to mind and that was what I decided to do.
I took a lace tablecloth, and I started draping it around forms trying to imitate the forms that made up the fish. I also tried to replicate the lighting from the fish photo I was using. I didn’t want the fish to look like a ghost, so I changed the color from white to orange to contrast with the blue green background. I didn’t have orange lace, so I had to imagine that part.
Lace and fish have separate but special meanings for me. Lace is a fabric that can be made with crochet, and my grandmothers both created a lot of lace tablecloths and doilies. My Father is an avid fisherman, and he taught me and my brothers to love fishing too. Both activities require hooks: fishing, for obvious reasons, and Crochet is done with a hooked needle. So I decided to make the fish look like it was getting ready to bite on the crochet hook. People who crochet and people who fish are sometimes jokingly referred to as "hookers.” My work tends to have a fun humorous spin to it, so I went there ;) That is where the name “Hooker’s Dream” comes from. It all came together as a multi layered double (or triple) entendre. My daughter posed as the “hooker” in this picture.
This painting is one of five paintings included in the "Just For Fun" show. Since the gallery show was canceled, I made it into a virtual art show that streamed on my website artifactfa.com with Live Audience Q & A and a video of the paintings that you can find on my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtakxcpkC6x9wULPzfg7OYQ. The show took place in March of 2021.
This painting was also selected out of 900 works from various artists to be featured at the Shock Boxx Gallery in Hermosa Beach, California in 2021.
~Leah Kiser
Check out more original paintings and prints in the Artifact Fine Art shop.