She Reads

2015
10 x 20 in.
Mixed Media on Wood

Collector’s Notes

Composition:
Painted directly onto a slab of wood layered with printed text, a woman gazes outward with quiet intensity. Her luminous eyes and poised expression anchor the piece, while a vivid butterfly perches delicately in her hair — a symbol of imagination, transformation, and the flight of thought that reading inspires.

Color & Texture:
The sepia tones of the underlying print create a warm, antique atmosphere, evoking the timelessness of books and written knowledge. Against this neutral ground, the butterfly’s wings explode in shades of magenta, orange, and violet, infusing the composition with vitality and movement. The smooth portrait contrasts with the textured, organic edge of the wood, bridging the worlds of the cerebral and the natural.

Medium & Technique:
By painting over layered pages of print on wood, the artist fuses image and language. The surface itself becomes both portrait and page, blurring the boundary between the act of reading and the act of seeing. The addition of the butterfly, rendered in dimensional paint and embellishment, lifts the painting beyond flatness, embodying imagination as something alive and free.

Style & Story:
She Reads is both a portrait and a metaphor. The young woman represents every reader who loses herself in books, while the butterfly suggests the limitless landscapes unlocked by imagination. The work speaks to the way reading grounds us in wisdom, yet allows us to soar beyond reality.

Emotional Connection:
This painting invites recognition and resonance. For lovers of books, it evokes the intimate joy of becoming absorbed in the written word, while also celebrating the mental freedom that stories provide. It is at once personal and universal, nostalgic and aspirational.

Context & Significance:
Created in 2015, She Reads reflects the artist’s lifelong passion for books and knowledge. It is both a tribute to reading as an essential part of her own creative life and a reminder of its enduring value in a fast-moving digital age.

Message from the Artist

This painting is a quiet celebration of the intimacy between a reader and her book. I wanted to convey not just the joy of knowledge, but the surrender to imagination — the way words can loosen our boundaries and carry us elsewhere. The butterfly in her hair became a natural symbol of that mental flight, fragile yet limitless.

Reading has always been more than pastime for me; it is a way of seeing differently, of stepping into other minds and lives. That exchange requires vulnerability and openness, and in turn, it cultivates empathy. The textures here — wood, paint, layered strokes — reflect the grounding presence of the physical book, even as the spirit takes flight.

At its heart, this work is about freedom. A book, like art, does not demand but invites — and in accepting, we find ourselves gently transformed.