Collage 204

Adrienne made the previous collage (so beautiful!!) and I was trying to use a similar palette, although not very successfully here. I admired how she used that raspberry which is a color I rarely use. One of the wonderful things about this project is working side by side. I have learned so much about composition, materials and inspiration over the course of these last six months.

This page of the original text is the end of Volume II, Part One, Chapter X. Dolokhov is talking with Rostov about his feelings towards women. He definitely has that saint/slut point of view. "...I have never yet met any women who weren't bought -- whether countesses or kitchen maide. I have never yet met such heavenly purity and faithfulness that I seek in a woman. If I had ever found such a woman, I would have given my life for her... if I still value my life, it's only because I still hope to meet the heavenly being who will resurrect, purify and elevate me."

I really liked Dolokhov -- I thought he was sexy in that bad boy kind of way -- until he had an affair with Helene. Or at least Pierre suspected that he did, which led to the duel where Dolokhov gets shot and I thought fatally wounded (wrong again!).

In the next chapter Rostov returns to Moscow from war and introduces Dolokhov to the family. Natasha tells her brother Nicolai that Sonia, their penniless cousin, is in love with Dolokhov. This is a little awkward for Nicolai as he and Sonia have always been in love with each other. "Natasha's prediction was proving true. Dolokhov, who did not like the society of women, began to frequent their house. and the question of who he was doing it for was soon resolved (though no one spoke of it), in the sense that he was doing it for Sonia. And Sonia knew it, though she would never have dared to say it, and she flushed crimson every time Dolokhov appeared." Sonia, run away! He is a wolf! -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 415-416 of original text
collage, acrylic paint
made 8/27/10