This painting was inspired by a beautiful marble statue in a gallery by the sea in Sitges near Barcelona.
It really moved me because it seemed to me to be a woman in despair. Suffering a loss or loss of hope.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick”.
I got a bit obsessed with creating artworks inspired by this sculpture when I did my foundation course. The first painting I attempted proved to be a happy accident. I had been set on trying to recreate the beauty of the marble with crisp lines but it just wasn’t working. So in frustration I swiped over the carefully crafted figure with a rag cloth and in so doing it became a “happy accident”.. the swiping highlighted the beautiful marks that I had so painstakingly created and it suddenly became a woman on fire. Burnished.
Inspired by the process, the next painting I created was much more purposeful… I used a gel medium to create a more sculpted figure with an acrylic base and then layered the figure with oil paint and gold leaf.
The reason the sculpture resonated so much was because at that time I was desperate to be a mother and there seemed no hope of it happening for me. Fortunately, that dream which once seemed so unobtainable became a reality a few years later and I am now mother to a gorgeous son who has just turned 15.
I rediscovered the artwork and decided to cut it down and cover it in a layer of resin which gives it a glass like, encased feel.
The hopelessness has gone. My desire was fulfilled. My son is so loved and wanted and I am so grateful to have been given the gift of motherhood.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Comments