SHORT DESCRIPTION

This pastel on canvas painting, measuring 70 x 50 cm, is a bespoke portrait commissioned by Jessica Simpson and developed through a live model drawing session. the work explores lines of identity and the human form through the lens of personal history, memory, and embodied experience, with a particular focus on the subject’s past as a ballerina.

Pastel is used for its softness, immediacy, and sensitivity to movement. the medium allows the drawing to hold both structure and fragility, echoing the physical discipline and emotional resonance of ballet. Lines remain fluid rather than fixed, suggesting balance, control, and release, qualities deeply rooted in the dancer’s relationship with her body.

Rather than depicting a literal moment of performance, the portrait draws from the internal memory of dance. posture, tension, and negative space subtly reference the language of ballet, allowing the human form to carry traces of training, repetition, and devotion. The image becomes a quiet reflection on how movement history remains present in the body long after the stage is left behind.

As a commissioned artwork, the live session is central to the process. Shared time and attentive observation shape the final image, grounding the work in authenticity rather than nostalgia. The portrait emerges through listening and responsiveness, allowing identity to surface through gesture, rhythm, and line.

Within the framework of bespoke portraiture, this piece functions as a personal visual anchor. It honours Jessica Simpson’s lived history as a ballerina while recognising her present self, presenting the human form as a layered archive of experience, memory, and becoming.