Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:10 PM

The relationship between women and age is legendary and poses many questions. As a portrait artist, I have noticed that women of all ages refuse to accept themselves as they are. They want to be "retouched" and fixed to look younger, thinner, more like magazine models, and to erase all the beautiful marks of their wisdom and experience. Does youth equal beauty? Looking at the photographs, are the 20-something women more beautiful than the over-50s?