In Her Image - Mythology Series
Listening
oil on canvas: 24 x 36 The painting has within it three distinct ways of working with paint and canvas: the mosaic of the flesh, the palette knife work in the hair and the sweeping brush strokes of the background. The combination of techniques creates the experience of youth: to feel one's own sound and to have the willingness to listen to one's inner voice. It is a happening and a remembering at the same time. (Santa Fe, NM 2006) |
Make-up Artist oil on canvas: 20 x 30 Woman before history, before relationship--a creature from the natural world. Man's acts, creation of pyramids and sailing ships are within her, not outside her. She is all-encompassing. Make-up Artist exists in every woman. She is primal but not masked like Eve. She is before Eve. She is our natural self in hiding. (Phoenix, AZ 2006) |
The Girl (Hathor) oil on canvas: 24 x 33 ½ Hathor is woman made Goddess. She is one with nature, but has been manipulated or dressed to be worshipped. Hathor's myth states she created herself from herself. Sensing the beginning of the painting by becoming quiet and watching the light changes on the newly-gessoed canvas. With Hathor, it was one line (that from the top of her helmet through to the back of her shoulder). With that one line in mind and an inner directive to paint background and image as one, the painting emerged. (Tucson, AZ 2008) |
Portrait of Age oil on canvas: 30 x 40 Portrait of Age began as the painting On the Other Side of the Gate. The painting was of a blue arch denoting space. It was reworked several times to give the form depth. First the eyes of Portrait of Age developed and from those eyes the face took form. She/he comes from space and with each layer of experience returns to space. (Bethany Beach, DE/Ionia, MI. 2006) |
The Woman (Medusa) oil on canvas: 24 x 33 ½ The obsession of sketching an artist friend's dreadlocks morphed into the painting of The Woman (Medusa). She has been presented to women as a gorgon (evil goddess). This painting attempts to show the powerful priestess/woman before rage and vengeance took over. (Ionia, MI 2007) |
Immaculate Delivery oil on canvas: 24 x 33 Giving birth to ideas, children and communities is what women do. It is our common bond and, though we sometimes feel completely alone in the delivery, we each know the other's pain and joy. This painting expresses the age-old symbol of mother and child as well as the bond between all women whether they have birthed a human child or a dreamed idea. We are in it together. (Ionia, MI 2009) |
Lion-Headed War Goddess--Hathor oil on canvas: 26 x 31 The destroyer-aspect of woman as goddess. The feminine principal always has the Life/Death/Life components. It is what we fear most in ourselves and what we, as women, know--what is born will die and life will begin again. The painting has many layers, but the final directive was to paint the whole canvas crimson using a very small brush. Each stroke brought new life and change. When it was completed, war planes flew over Tucson and the painting was named. (Tucson, AZ 2008) |
It's Not Just a Woman's Issue oil on canvas: 28 x 36 Representative of woman's life and her struggle in a world that does not cherish her presence. She is shrouded, holding the shadows of her children's lives. Oil, and blood surround her. The painting was taken from a sketch of a dancer and ended in a statement of war, pain and woman's experience. (Ionia, MI 2008) |
Present (a self portrait) oil on canvas: 24 x 38 ½ Sensing the world through color, skin, sight, sound and self. With a no-holds-barred approach, I have presented myself as I know me to be. Not as what others may see or think of me. It is as I feel and experience my presence in the world. (Ionia, MI 2007) |