About Catching Dewdrops:

Catching Dewdrops was a painting intended to be a "jewel-like vignette". It is an intimate figure study of the model with a loose thematic basis as a portrayal of the character Iris from William Shakespeare’s play, "The Tempest". In Shakespeare’s play Iris is a faerie, so while Catching Dewdrops may seem like a simple portrait at first, it can actually be considered a faerie painting.

The literary reference to the painting in "The Tempest" is the following line: "With thy saffron wings upon my flowers, Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers." The "honey-drops" that are mentioned in this quote from "The Tempest" are interpreted in the painting to be dewdrops, thus the name of the painting. Iris is "catching dewdrops" so that she can sprinkle them about the flowers in her faerie-like way.

Catching Dewdrops, with its Shakespearean subject matter, careful execution and romantic theme, follows closely in the artistic vein established by the great Pre-Raphaelite and British Classical painters of 19th century Victorian England. The influence of artists such as William Waterhouse, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Sir John Everett Millais can be clearly seen in the painting. As such, it can be considered a tribute by the artist, Damon Denys, to his romantic classical predecessors and the influence they have had on his own contemporary work.

Despite this fact, Catching Dewdrops is hardly a blind imitation of an earlier style. The artist’s very open interpretation of the Shakespearean subject matter and combination of classical technique with a romantic theme distinguish it as a unique effort that stands apart from that which has come before. In this sense, it is indeed a contemporary and relevant subject.