Katherine McGuire

Painting

"Michael," Spray paint and oil paint on masonite, 3'x4,' 2017
This is a portrait of my Dad, Michael, that I made after he died.  It is from  photograph of him when he was young.  I wanted to portray that he was a smart man, and had many things going on in his mind.  I took the imagery around his face from a brief experimentation with printmaking that he went through when he was young.  In some of his prints, he had images of the ocean and sea creatures, castles and planets.  The bird is from another print that he did.  I put the images in the prints around his head, to represent his intellect full of dreams, activity and images.  It is also supposed to represent him on the astral plane.  

Painting

"Man Surrounded by Flowers and Arrows," Spray paint, oil paint, and mixed media on masonite, 3'x4,' 2017
This painting is of a homeless man that I saw walking down the street in Hollywood.  The painting has a man standing in front of a street, and hills in the background.  There is a sign with three arrows pointing in different directions to represent the different directions that he might be going in.  There are clouds in the sky.  There are some rhinestone sickers collaged on the wood in the hills, on hos jacket, in his hair and around some of the flowers.  There are eight flowers painted around the figure, to show growth and hope for the figure.  There is a sun on top of the sign with the arrows, and supposed to represent light in the darkness.  There is a black heart on his forehead.   The viewer is supposed to wonder about his life and situation.  

Painting

"Man In Between Two Fences," Spray Paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
​This is a portrait of a homeless man that I took around my neighborhood, Koreatown and embellished.  He is walking and slightly trapped in between two fences.  The picture is also dark and light.  There is a dark sky in the background, and his face is the light of the painting.  He also has a heart where his heart is, and a rainbow above his pocket.  A house that he doesn’t have is in the background with smoke coming out of the chimney.  There are different types of flowers growing to represent growth, and a rainbow over a dripping cloud to symbolize a new day.  The sign in the background is like a street sign, and I often use them in my paintings with no writing, to show them literally as a sign, and to show that the man is going nowhere, or for us to wonder what that sign means.  There is also a cloud on his shirt to represent the gloom of his mood.  My painting is trying to portray a person in a metaphysical manner.  

Painting

'Woman Surrounded By Pink Suns," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
​ This is a portrait of a homeless woman that I often see walking around Hollywood.  She does hold cans of flowers and wears a scarf.  I wanted to create a mood with this painting about her and the environment that surrounded her.  She is in the hills with flowers growing around her with pink and purple suns dripping in the sky.  Her eyes are different colors to represent her psychic aspect of what she sees.  The flowers are dripping to show growth and decay.  

Painting

"Man With Flower II," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
​This is a portrait of a man that I took on Venice Beach sitting on a bench.  Behind him is a trash can to show where he was sitting.  On the bench is a rainbow, to represent hope.  The image has both dark and light aspects.  He is in darkness, but the fluorescent colors are bringing light to the situation.  It is a painting and a collage.  There is a foam glitter heart sticker where his heart is, and there flowers in and around the trash can to show brightness from dark.  The umbrella is shelter, and the flowers represent growth.  There are plastic beads glued onto the painting in collage form to add to the areas of fluorescent color.  

Painting

"Man With Sign III," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
​This is a full figure portrait that I took of a homeless man on Hollywood Blvd. sitting on a backpack.  He is sitting in between two trash cans and the background I imagined.  The trash cans show us the situation that he is in.  One of the trash cans is on fire, and there is fire around the picture.  His sign only has a rainbow on it, to represent hope.  His eyes and hair are yellow to show that he is like the sun, and the umbrella represents shelter, and there is an imagined castle in the distance, maybe he will go to someday.  He also has a pink aura.  

Painting

"Girl With Flower Wreath," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
This painting is a portrait of a woman wearing a flower wreath.  It is from a homeless woman that I photographed in Hollywood who actually was wearing a flower wreath.  The painting is dark with a bright yellow aura around the face and the flowers.  She has four hearts on her face and the portrait is supposed to show the pain that she has gone through.  Her eyes are different colors to show the psychic and otherworldly nature of what she sees. This painting is a portrait of a woman wearing a flower wreath.  
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Painting

"Homeless Man Under the Stars." Spray paint and oil paint on masonite, 3'x4,' 2017
This is a portrait that I took of a homeless man wearing a sweatshirt, under the stars.  He has a sign, but it is barely showing on the bottom of the picture.  He has yellow in his hair and in his eyes to show the sun in his eyes.  He has a right side up and upside down heart on his forehead to represent his heart.  His eyes are dripping because I like the effect, and to show emotion and imitate tears.  

Painting

"Girl With Black Hair," Spray Paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
This is a portrait of a woman in unrealistic colors, and dramatic shading, to represent an aura of light around a woman in a dark cosmos.  The cosmos is outside her, and within her hair, to represent psychic aspects and the cosmos outside her and within her.  One eye is dark and one eye is light to represent the dark and light within her.  She has some stenciled flowers on the bottom of her shirt.  

Painting

"The WInd

Painting

"Man With Sign II," Spray paint, oil paint,  mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
​This is a painting of a homeless man with a sign, the kind that you often see standing on freeways.  This man is on a street in one point perspective and the focal point or the vanishing point is behind his head making his face the main focus of the picture.  His sign has a rainbow, with the writing will work for food on it.  It is like the writing that you would see on a homeless person’s sign.  There is also a heart pierced by two arrows that symbolize the broken hearts that many of these people have.  There are stars in the sky and also on his hat that represent the cosmos outside him and within him.  There is a heart where his heart is, on his face, and upside down hearts in the flowers to show a reversal of the heart feelings. There is fire around him, and flowers growing out of the fire, to show the danger of the situation.  There is a sun dripping from one of the rooftops.  The different colored paint around him is like an aura or halo or energy that emanates from him.  

Painting

"Flower Child," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
This painting is influenced by the tarot cards.  It is a portrait of a woman with a flower wreath in her hair, and star stickers in her hair.  She represents a psychic, a person that sees more than they want to or can handle.  That is why the paint is dripping out of her eyes.  The sun is dripping upwards and downwards, and the flowers are dripping and her hair is dripping.  The eyes are different colors to show the different nature of what she sees.  The stars are outside her and within her.  

Painting

"Chakra Portrait," Spray paint, oil paint, mixed media on masonite, 3'x4'
This is also a painting of a homeless woman who is a psychic.  The dripping paint is supposed to represent dripping emotions from different parts of her faceor body, and the collage elements on the right side are tears.   The collage elements on the left side are supposed to represent chakra colors from the different parts of her face.  She is also surrounded by the universe and stars.  The red paint around her is supposed to function as a halo or aura.  

Painting

"Richard," is a painting made by oil and mixed media on canvas, 30"x40."  It ia a portrait of a man named Richard, done in unrealistic colors with collage elements.n  The bright colors around his head are meant to show his aura and energy in paint.  His face is done in cool with areas of warm colors.  The areas of warm colors try to portray areas of heat and emotion emanating from his face.  There are some areas of paint dripping because I like the effect and to imitate tears.  In both of his eyes are two different kind of collaged flowers.  There is a rainbow and a butterfly in his hair.  In his hair, there are different areas of collaged elements to add to and enhance different areas of colors.  The portrait is supposed to represent his soul, and be mystical.  

Painting

"Fortune Teller," is a painting with oil and collage elements on canvas, 30"x40."  The painting is a portrait with dripping and collage elements.  It is portrait of a fortune teller or psychic.  The painting has dripping all over it to imitate tears or rain.  The face is done in coll and warm colors.  The warm colors are meant to represent heat emanating from the face.  There are different beads in the eyes to portray the different things that she sees.  The collage elements are supposed to represent the stars and they are creeping into her hair and face to represent the cosmos within her.  

Painting

"Girl With Jewel Eyes," is a 30"x40," painting made with oil and mixed media on canvas.  It is a portrait of a girl in unrealistic colors with two different colored beads in her eyes, as well as some star beads in her hair to represent the cosmos withing her.  She also has a red aura.