Liberation

The Initiation. 2009. Oil on Canvas. 100 x 130cm

There are times when I finish a painting, and I am not fully satisfied with it. Under these circumstances if the idea continues to intrigue me I will re approach the same subject, sometimes years later, with a clear vision of how it should look.

Liberation. 2016. Oil on Canvas. 130 x 90 cm

This was the case with The Initiation (2009). The original painting didn’t have as clear of a narrative as I wanted it to. In Liberation (2016), I have edited a few extraneous elements, and made a starker, more focused version. In the original, I had added a bird, basically as a compositional and decorative element. In the new version, the fluffed up pink cockatoo represents a feminine image, and the gold chain and lock reference the ‘gilded cage’ of the ‘kept’ woman. The cockatoo holds a tiny gold key in its’ claws, representing the possibility of liberation.