"Women Warriors" from the EMPOWERED Collection

VERY rough sketch ideas for the "Women Warriors" series in the EMPOWERED Collection

As part of my EMPOWERED Collection I'm going to be doing a series of "Women Warriors" featuring strong women from history, whether the past or present, and also female characters that epitomize strength, grace and inspiration.  Women who don't take no for an answer and offer society inspirational goals and a "can do" attitude, not letting anything hold them back.  They are "warriors" who have fought the battle of feminism/mysogyny and forged an easier path for all of us to continue to make headway towards equality.  Whether that was their goal or not, they are still a part of our history towards gender equality and I want to celebrate their spirit through my art.

I was going to do Frida Kahlo as my first in the series because she is one of the most inspirational artists for women, a woman who endured so much in her life and yet willingly shared her pain and how she overcame and dealt with the struggles through her art and life.  But, just a couple of days ago we lost an amazing iconic woman who was one of the first movie heroines to really show that a woman can be just as much an action star and strong character as any man, perhaps even more so than any of her costars, and she did it with such an air of comfort and ease, she had nothing to prove, it was the role and Carrie Fisher played it to a T, she WAS and always will be a Rebel and our Princess (Leia).  And so sad to note that her mother, and fellow actress, Debbie Reynolds passed away yesterday, just one day after her beloved Carrie, may they both rest in peace and be angels among the stars...we will forever be inspired to be strong and resilient women because of them.