Pulling at the Roots

My recent inspiration began with my fascination of the character Queequeq from Moby Dick. What a rich picture Melville paints of his character. I was struck by the primitivity of Queequeq; both in his mannerisms and physical appearance. He reminded of a cave man and allowed me to glimpse into what we truly are as humans when everything else is stripped away. We so often disguise raw humanity with with material possessions; inventions, technology, conveniences and the things we daily rely upon. These things allow us to live a higher life, while we lose our footing a little and forget who we are. A tree needs roots to grow.

I feel paintings beginning to form out of this. Here's a mood board:

http://pinterest.com/pollyannajoy/painting-faces/

Holocene, Bon Iver

This video is just beautiful: The colours, filming, landscape, reflections, light and shadow, the figure and the bird's flight. I find it incredibly moving and telling of human nature, our desire to live in relation to the environment around us; our existence and the way we long for so much more. The boy introduces a playful element to the video. The way a child innocently views the world can be incredibly refreshing and humbling.

Oasis Mural

So excited about making a feature wall of paintings for my church in Madrid http://oasismadrid.org/! They have a new space and asked me to make some paintings for it. It's a fantastic opportunity to work on a large scale which I love doing and to give back some of what the Church has given me. I've been thinking about how I can incorporate the church identity without it becoming too narrative. There were no specifications so I had to think about what would best suit the space and the people who use it.

The design has evolved as I have considered the proposal the past month. Throughout my time in Spain this church has truly been an "oasis" to me; somewhere I can go to be spiritually renewed and refreshed, so the paintings make reference to this. They will be a series of three paintings, displayed diagonally on the wall, and increasing by a third in size from top to bottom. Each one will contain the figure of a woman. Two paintings will display her completely immersed beneath the water and the other painting will show her lying on the surface of the water, a reflection of the sky under her. They will act as progressions, so that the eye travels diagonally upwards along the wall. Here's a mood board of ideas:

http://pinterest.com/pollyannajoy/oasis-mural-madrid/