12 Works of Art by Bill Hemmerling titled "Sweet Olive -- A Tribute to the Masters"

Bill Hemmerling began his career late in life and started by using house paints on any surface he could find, including tin, door panels, wood, and any recycled materials. Sweet Olive has become his signature character used in many of his paintings and his work has been shown throughout the United States, most recently at Jazz Fest in New Orleans and the World Trade Center in Dallas, Texas.

In this series, sumptuous splashes of colors and rich textured backgrounds weave their way throughout each piece as Sweet Olive exudes life in Hemmerling's tribute to great artists of the past. Sweet Olive's faceless form lures the viewer into the vivid world of Bill Hemmerling and his love of Southern African-American culture and the spirituality of the South. Hemmerling's Sweet Olive series pays tribute to great masters in a limited number of giclee prints, each one individually signed by the artist and stretched on museum quality canvas. Giclee, which means "fine spray" in French, is an exacting reproduction that matches the tones and hues perfectly.

Sweet Olive here is depicted as one of the idiosyncratic figures painted by the Jewish-Italian artist.