Birthing Pool (Evening)

Deep in a sacred space a shawoman is seen standing knee deep in a pool surrounded by a sunset sky. The water is red, maybe reflecting the sky or maybe coloured by blood, the birthing blood. She is bent forward, her face hidden by her hair. She holds a baby, the bright centre of the painting. A child of light.

This was the first completed painting I created using a method of free and spontaneous mark making, with no set intention other than to see what happened and allow whatever wanted to to come out. This painting and this method of working was born at the time when my mother was dying. It was a time of deep transformation, where all old layers disolved and something very beautiful arose in her and filled her with light. This painting explores the connection between death and birth and is a tribute to my mother.

I continued to explore this way of working for the next 10 years. Playing with paint, often washing it off when it got too messy and seeing what was left. Eventually after weeks, months or years of working on a painting in this way an image would catch my attention and a painting would be birthed from chaos.

All the paintings in this section are born of this method.