In Union / In Grief (Diptych)

I came into these paintings feeling deeply into the color red: the root chakra is primal, ancient energy. It is blood, it is childbirth, it is lineage and bloodline. The red thread that connects us back through time, an invisible, internal link that goes back aeons. It is DNA. It is sex. It is instinct, passion, lust, death. It is the beat of a drum. A fire in the dark of night. It is ancient wisdom. Red is our roots. It is grounded, fiercely loyal and powerful. It is our birthplace and our final resting place in the earth. When I started these paintings in tandem in September 2023, I had just found out I was pregnant, hence the intense connection with the color red and the root chakra. In Union appeared easily, the coming together of two. In Grief took longer, initially capturing the feeling of walking away from the person I once was, closing a door on a chapter and walking into a new one. I miscarried some weeks later and abandoned the paintings, until January 2024 when the painting unfolded to show another figure, initially hidden, embracing his partner in grief. In my process I begin by painting intuitively with a chosen color palette and working with a lot of water to retain translucence while creating organic and spontaneous texture. Allowing this to dry I observe the image to see what emerges and continue to work into the painting with ink and acrylic to hone in on the figures and add detail, bringing the narrative to life in an exploration of personal myth that is at once cathartic and autobiographical as well as speaking to the human condition.