I added Ana’s roommate specifically for Keri. I needed Ana to have a roommate so she had someone to talk to. I chose an artist of the era as a treat for Keri. Here is how the script read:
Page 7:
Panel 1: Interior of an apartment. In the foreground, a young woman is painting. The apartment looks typical of something that is more of a flop place than an actual living space. The walls are covered with the painting woman’s art. The furniture has clothes draped over it. There is food on the table.
Panel 2: Pretty much the same as the first panel, but Ana is coming in through the door. This is her apartment. She shares it with a young artist, Tamara de Lempicka. Despite the fact that Tamara is married, she has a room in the flat where she paints and carries on with her bohemian friends. In just two short years, she will be one of the most sought-after painters in Paris.
Ana: “Hi honey, I’m home!”
Tamara: “Hello! How was your day?”
Panel 3: As Ana moves in to the room and begins to shed her clothes, Tamara notices Ana’s disheveled appearance.
Tamara: “Better yet, Where have you been, what have you been up to, and what was his name?”
Panel 4:
Ana continues to shed clothes as she heads for the bathroom.
Ana: “Tamara, it was nothing like that.”
There are a few little tidbits on the page. First of all, the diving helmet is a nod to an idea that Keri and I have been kicking around and may come in to play later. The art that Tamara is creating is a representation of one of her actual pieces of art. The pattern and texture on this page comes from a book of textiles from the early 20th Century.
For more on Tamara de Lempicka, click here.
