The body of work, “The Madonnas”, is based on how modern day life has changed the female archetype. This work explores the emotional shift in our perception as the female identity changes and transforms. The figures in this work are breaking apart or becoming one with some form of nature, be it a plant or water. In the distillation process the female form becomes more and more abstracted, so that the viewer is identifying with a transformational experience.

In the development of “The Madonnas”, I combined both representational figurative and abstract painting. Working in oil, layers were built up to create rich color, depth and mood. Since women have always been connected with the theme of growth as mothers, I looked to nature and the way plants sprout, grow, and then die to create rich compost for new life. In our lives as humans I feel that death does not always have to be a physical death, but can be a death of an expectation of who we thought we would be. The idea that as we grow and evolve, concepts of our identities, as in nature, have the opportunity to transform.