Artist statement for mother and child painting:
Bringing the experience of being a parent into painting, I aim to communicate what's felt in these most intimate of moments and uplift the viewer to this emotional place.
Inspired by my figurative favorites; Matisse, Raphael and Botticelli, simple line contours of the figures and blocks of color emerged into floral patterns in the pillows and the curtain. In Raphael and Botticelli’s paintings, their subject was the Madonna and child, and the ultramarine blue they used, more precious than gold in the Renaissance. I use it here to portray that every mother and child is sacred—and in this human experience we touch on the divine.
After having my son, this was the only subject I wanted to paint. Like fellow artist Jenny Saville, I’m inspired by being a mother.
