My group art show

I have a group art show going on in the South Shore Cultural Center, in 70th South Shore street, in Chicago, IL. If anyone leaves in chicago take some time to check it out. There is some real talent there. It goes on till December 28th.

Mother continued...

The turmoil and great thing about oils is how long it takes to finish....sometimes. I like the way the foliage turned out so far on the vase. I added the mother and baby in the background to point out that not everyone woman who's had an abortion doesn't end up having a family. That's it's a decision that is not and should not be made lightly and it's a decision that every woman has the right to make for herself. I think the juxtaposition of the real baby and the images of babies born or unborn were necessary to show the full message of the piece. The edge where the wood cast a shadow needs to be more clearly defined. I like the way the wood turned out and I'm still tweaking it. The skulls on the edge of the vase has been redone, yet again. I'm still thinking about adding teeth or living them as they are. So I'll save that decision for when I'm finished with the rest of the vase. The shadow effect of the mother and child turned out quite well. I'm not quite happy with the background on the left yet, so it's going to be a little lighter. Looking at the baby resting on his mother I feel he needs hair.

mother continued....

I didn't like the skulls, it appeared too flat to me. So I've begun repainting it to give it more dimension. I also wasn't satisfied with the other ribbon of hieroglyphics on the right side, so I'm going to repaint that as well. I added stripes of color to match the bottom of the vase and darkened the talons on the feet. The faceless babies on the top of the vase, have been painted with a mixture of viridian green and naples yellow. To show the children that never were. So far, I like the curvature of the top and bottom of the vase and middle is still a work in progress. The bottom stripes were done in yellow oxide, naples yellow, pthalo blue, cobalt blue, titanium white, and van dyke brown. So far so good.

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.