When my mother passed away suddenly several years ago, I began work on a painting to help me through my grief. It's a self portrait but it's really about my mother and what she gave me. She was also an artist and she encouraged me to draw and paint from a young age. She was fiercely protective of me- she didn't want the terrible things that happened to her when she was younger to happen to me. She was my armor for much of my life, and even when she wasn’t there I could feel her protection around me. She defended my right to be an artist, to make beauty and express myself. I've often thought about how to strike the balance between being soft and open with being protective and closed. I learned that there are things to fear in the world but that if I don't open myself to love and emotion, I won't be fully alive.
