Untitled 'Girl and Dog' series
In her Gril and Dog paintings Paula veils meaning in caricacture; but now 'the masks", as she describes them, begin to fall away, the animals are substitutes for naturalistic representations of people. Paula says that speaking her mind has always been more of a problem in her life than in her art. In these paintings there is a sense of firm tenderness on the part of the girls and of alternating compliance and stubborness on the part of the dog. Although the cast changes the theme is very consistant in this series. The dog is petted, spoon fed, helped to drink and in one case very trustingly allows it's throat to be shaved. That action gives the clue if any is needed that this is not any invalid but a man in the guise of a dog. Invalids test the love of those responisble for them to the limit. In Girl Lifting Up Her Skirt to a Dog, Paula shows the frustration and anger that lies within relationships based on any kind of dependency. Another particularly disturbing picture is Looking Back. There is no dog in this picture just two women and one young girl, one girl on the bed is covered with a fur blanket. Paula explains that they have killed the dog. These paintings also formally marked a radical change which was the ushering in of what must now be seen as her mature style.
