|
(f) Christina, 42, often uses a magnifier while painting her
tiny treasures. “It
saves my back and eyes.” (g) “For
inspiration, I flip through my art books or visit
museums.
Even if I’ve seen a painting many times before, I always
notice new
images and details.”
|
|
![]()
Text by Tony DiMartino
Don’t ever tell Christina Goodman to think big. As far as she’s concerned, God
is in the details, and the smaller the details, the better.
Christina, who
lives in San Francisco’s East Bay area, creates handpainted miniatures and
jewelry inspired by Renaissance paintings and frame design. Born in Pisa, Italy,
to American parents, she formed a mystical bond to the land of Renaissance
genius. After earning an art degree from the University of California at Santa
Cruz, she eventually moved to New York, where she studied fashion design and
worked as a decorative artist specializing in gilding and painted finishes. A
later job as a sign painter taught her lettering, proportion, and
patience.
Twelve years ago, her knowledge of decorative art and her passion
for Renaissance painting merged, resulting in her own line of miniatures and
jewelry. “No one knew what to make of the pieces when I first displayed them at
a neighborhood craft show in Seattle,” she admits. But after a wholesale show in
the mid-’90s, gallery owners started placing orders.
(a) A trompe l’oeil triptych inspired by Dutch painter Cranach the Elder “and by the
orange tree right outside my studio window.” (b) A handpainted butterfly brooch,
based on 17th- and 18th-century drawings of insects, (c) opens to reveal this landscape, a reference to
Giorgione, one of her favorite painters.
small-scale beauty
“I’ve always been drawn to minute objects. There’s an
intimacy and radiance to tiny, jewel-like paintings.” (d) Three
one-of-a-kind tree brooches, each in acrylic and 22k gold leaf on wood. (e) A limited production brooch, painted on resin, inspired by a Rafael
landscape.
Renaissance Woman page
1 |
2
 Stumble It!
archive »
|
