mother-continues

I like the background in indian yellow and van dyke brown that have been done so far. The vase looks too flat to me and I need to morph the skulls and hieroglyphs a little bit more on the sides. I like the Lilith reference in the feet so far. The bottom of the vase looks like it needs to be shrunken and tightened on the sides as well. I think I need to get a vase and look at how it morphs objects on the sides.

mother- painting starts

This is the beginning of the painting. This will be done in oil. When I sketched this out, I combined images of different female deities unto the vase. But at the same time keeping a mostly Egyptian look going. In the center is an almost realistic version of Isis or Hathor, the deities of fertility. Even more so for Hathor who had a stronger alliance with fertility,music, and beer, because as one of the Egyptian gods she is depicted in human form with the same or similar crown as Isis. But she is also depicted as a cow. Women who were pregnant or wanted to be pregnant gave offerings to her temple in Dendera. The right side of the vase is her in cow form. I like the top part with the babies that will never be. The skulls of the future workers and lovers that she will never meet. The feet are claws, show the defiance of Lilith, Adams first wife....not Eve! According to Jewish myth. I'm still considering adding her wings but I don't want it to crowd the painting. This is my homage to the power that we women have and should never take for granted.

mother-the making

This sketch is part of a series of paintings I'm making that are loosely inspired by African- American poetry and poets. This piece is called mother, inspired by the poem of the same name, by Gwendolyn Brooks. The poem is about a woman's internal dialogue about the abortions she had and if she made the right decisions. The first thing I thought when I read and absorbed this poem was a gourd or vase. Nothing that is used everyday to me mimics a woman's physique and attributes to me like it. I basically built everything around that image in my head.