"Allegory of Inspiration"
From the Black Butterfly series. Charcoal on mylar drafting film with white illustration board underlay, 24×30”.
I started this 4 years ago, intending it to be an ink and watercolor wash
piece. I never got up the nerve to finish it – it is quite large and I
wasn’t very comfortable with watercolor. The references I used were
photos of myself and my husband in our early 20’s.
Symbolism:
My husband is a musician, and the butterflies in the series are
representative of the artist’s muse. All of the models for this series
are artists from various disciplines (actress Marilyn Monroe is
Aphrodite in one work).
In this piece, the lilies and the intertwining branches are taken from works by Leonardo Da Vinci. The lily is also a meaningful to me because of our sir name of White and it's meanings of peace and annunciation. The Celtic elements of triple spirals and knot work are symbolic of our three children, my Irish heritage, our intertwined lives and inspirations, and are also appropriate as a reminder of our journey to
Ireland this past year.I believe this piece was just waiting for this time in my career to be finished. I’m glad I waited. Funny I looked at it several times in my flat file over the years, and put it away. This time I saw it when I was pulling out some
mylar for another piece – and all other ideas fell to the wayside
because I just HAD to do this NOW, plus butterflies. It was drawn on
the illustration board I was planning to paint over, so that became the
backing for the mylar, and I could see the under-drawing right through,
no transferring necessary.
I've always liked symbolism in art and have used it often in the past. I think this will be a new direction for me. I was getting a bit bored with straight realism.
