Like the sculptures, the paintings represent a world of
women figures, sometimes comic personages both self-contained and
interrelating. Early characters, such as the venturesome "Fan Lady"
(whose body is usually made up of a spiral) and her cohort "Cactus Lady,"
have tended to perform for the viewer on stage-like platforms, acting out
scenarios of encounter, flirtation and introspection. Other characters have
included "Crying Bead," "Crying Spirit," and "Ruffled
Waters." Hammond sees her own work "... as an extended novel with the
char acters leaving the stage of the painting surface and edges. Nonlinear.
They appear, disappear and reappear at different times in different situations...Poetic
metaphors ...They have a life of their own so you have to keep an eye on
them."