About this work

With her feminine portrait paintings she honours and celebrates the feminine forms, grace, movement, vulnerability and strength. “I portray the female desires and ambitions, at the same time idealistic and caring,” says Mo Nique.

Mo Nique loves to experiment with her brush and palette knife. She is not afraid to try out a variety of styles and techniques. This South African artist uses mainly oil paint. The softness, transparency of the paint and the way the different colours mix is what fascinates her. Her painting is characterised by bold and self-assured brushstrokes. With her palette knife she brings texture into her flower paintings. Her creative process is accompanied by funky music and swinging dance movements. These dynamics flow onto canvas.

This is a portrait of my daughter Shani .  I often use her face as reference for my portraits. Her deep blue eyes and angelic face are perfect to paint and I added some little roses in her hair to portray her femininity and softness …