I can’t quite explain my fascination with Grace Jones. I just remember being young, seeing her in Conan the Destroyer as Zula, and May Day in A View to a Kill, and thinking…WOW! Whatever Grace Jones is doing it is often the unexpected. She seems undeterred, passionate, and certainly has untethered herself from being defined by men. She is wondrously creative whether she is modeling, singing, or acting.
I loved the look Grace Jones had during the 1980’s. Well, to be honest I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Grace Jones look I didn’t like. I hoped to capture the angles, pastel color feeling, and severity of the 80’s photographs I was using to build this portrait. The version above is before the background was completed and before any detail work on her face and hair. The portrait below is with all those elements. I’m not sure this one is completely finished, but I do need to step back for a while before I work on it again, if I choose to do so. It doesn’t look exactly like Grace, but considering portraits aren’t something I do often, I’m happy where this one is.
Read about Grace Jones on Wikipedia
I’d also recommend reading the book:
I’ll Never Write My Memoirs by Grace Jones and Paul Morley
