original painting by Brooke Harker.
This painting drew inspiration from years as a special events entertainer for children in Los Angeles. Concrete Castles came from a sketch made while I went to Hollywood to repair a Rapunzel wig. I had designed hair for many theatre productions in the past, so I foolishly thought I had the skills to restyle a carefully crafted floor length blonde wig created by Hollywood professionals. In doing so, I was up all night with little success. I perhaps had 30 minutes of sleep and shed a lot of tears in frustration since I’d rented the wig from a friend who was very skeptical about sharing this treasure. Thankfully, the ladies in a wig shop on Hollywood Blvd saved the day while I waited outside on the street sketching. I got several sketches out of the ordeal, one of which inspired this painting. I used a purple ink pen as it was all I had with me. And even though the Boulevard is fairly dirty…it looked magical that day and getting to draw was the silver lining on the storm cloud I had created the night before. The title Concrete Castles
alludes to the fairy tale world I have often played in.
Brooke Harker
