of the many advent themes, light & hope seem so relevant just now... perhaps a painting of a pregnant woman would be even better... but this one was based, a few years ago, on the prologue of John’s Gospel... [John 1 v 1-18 ], with its emphasis on light & darkness ... ‘the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it’... hence the painting has that sense of brooding darkness in its purple shadows...and yet the Christ child glows with the light he brings into the world through his life...the life that darkness could not overpower...
“but that isn’t the original painting, is it ? someone visiting my open studio asked a member of the family, who was at a loss to know what to say... after all, this is an original painting... but she guessed the lady was thinking of my earlier painting below, which was selected by Museums & Galleries Ltd for their Christmas cards a few years ago... unfortunately, this painting was so popular with one toddler that he excitedly toddled over to it during a church service and quickly crayoned allover it with a bright red crayon, and when trying to clean it afterwards I accidentally removed a layer of paint, rather destroying Mary’s face... however, once I had recovered from the shock, I remembered that this painting was only meant to be a preliminary sketch as I painted meditatively trying to express the first few verses of John’s Gospel visually... and so, eventually, I felt ready to paint other versions of a similar theme, changing the colours and tone... and also painting on canvas (this first one was painted on oil painting practice paper) So in the end something that was spoiled beyond repair led to other paintings that have delighted many people... there is always hope, even when all seems lost !
this next madonna and child is completely different...whilst the paintings above were inspired by a deep sense of awe in the mystery expressed in St John’s Prologue, the Darfur Madonna below is a prayer-painting resulting from the shocking news coming from Southern Sudan & the reality of the plight of so many refugee mothers forced to flee with their young children, photographed whilst waiting for food-aid to ease their hunger... I felt such anguish in these black and white photos filling our screens and newspapers that I decided the only way I might be able to pray for them was to attempt to paint as a form of prayer...layer upon layer of transparent reds gave way to transparent browns, slowly building up, layer upon layeras each day I prayed as I painted, then allowed that glaze-layer to dry before adding another...a painstakingly slow way of painting, and never knowing whether these faces would emerge with enough depth of brown, and yet enough red to glow with light and hope... adding a touch of yellow highlight at the end, as a sign of hope for their future...together with a little purple to take the raw edge off the deep red which has, sadly, not come out in this photo... but then this wasn’t a painting for show... not until I began to understand that it might possibly help our mainly African & Afro-Caribbean congregation in prayer...
