Collage 196

Emma and I were in the studio together the day I made this piece. I often wonder if the color palette is influenced by the weather and season. We were into some luscious greens that day. I was following her lead with the design, the long sweeping swath of green with gold dots.

On these pages of the original text, Pierre has just shot and seriously wounded Dolokhov in a duel. It is an opportunity for Tolstoy to show us a "softer" side of Dolokhov, the bad boy. "Dolokhov, this towdy duelist, lived in Moscow with his old mother and hunchbacked sister, and was a most affectionate son and brother." In the next scene, Pierre is ruminating about why he married Helene -- he realizes that he never loved her, that she was just a trophy wife -- and recalls how his wife's brother, Anatole, would try to borrow money from her and kiss her bare shoulders. She didn't let him borrow money, but did allow him to kiss her. Are we to read that as an incestuous relationship?!! -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 399-400 of original text
collage, acrylic paint
made 8/13/10