Ancestress

My studio is quite a long way from being ‘properly finished’. I still need another bookshelf, blinds and curtains, shelving for art supplies, and to decorate the walls with images. I had excitedly thought that 2018 would be the year of finding courage, trusting in the unknown, and recommitting myself wholeheartedly to art and writing because I would have this creative sanctuary to work in. How wrong I was! Just painting the inside and finding the rudimentary furniture I needed took much, much longer than expected. I am disappointed, and a little frustrated. Yet recently I have started to spend some time in my green cocoon, and this little painting has emerged. 

Called Ancestress, she began life as a rough painted sketch of a kind of female icon. Some of the inspiration for her definitely came from watching Max Dashu’s fascinating ‘Grandmother Stones of Megalithic Europe’, which is replete with imagery of the numinous and enigmatic ancestor spirits of the prehistoric past. I wanted to create something that called to mind such beings, a foremother of my own.

The cracking of the paint was unintentional. I added some gum arabic to the black gouache, which I assume is the cause, though I am not sure why it has done that. I was at first quite dismayed, but eventually came to see it as one of those happy accidents that happens from time to time in art-making. 

I love the serene solidity of this image, her gentle mountain-like presence. I hope to create more work like her as I continue to delve into the lost memories of the ancient past, and unearth my own ancestral stories and knowledge, in the (hopefully) generative womb of my studio. 

Ancestress, watercolours and gouache on gesso prepared paper (2018)