36 x 36cm
Miss Sherbrooke
14" x 14", acrylic, August, 2010

Joëlle is a friend I've known for years. Some friends never come to mind when thinking of doing a painting. It's not that they are not beautiful or interesting, or don't have the personality for me to capture them in a painting. It simply never comes to mind to paint close friends when one is constantly searching elsewhere. Well, one day, Joëlle came to work wearing this combination hat, sunglassess, and coat. It captured my attention. Yes, it was time to paint a friend.

Anyone who knows a little about film & fashion can see that this is reminiscent of the 1950's, the way Audrey Hepburn used to dress in her movies. Joëlle, dressed this way, with an air of mystery, makes me think of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, hence the reason I included reflected images of Hitchcock in her sunglassess, the way the director would have done it in his typical cameo way!

I was surprised to find out that Hitchcock and Hepburn never did a movie together. She would have made a great leading lady in one of his movies. It's interesting
to note that the Hepburn movie, "Charade", directed by Stanley Donan, is known
as "The best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made." Well, I would like to
think that if Hitchcock had made a movie with Hepburn, it would have been
called, "Miss Sherbrooke". It has a good Hitchcockian ring to it. Of course, there
would have been a crucial subway scene in the movie, at Sherbrooke station!