Great Mother

Expectations

Associated with earth, stone and cave, stability, fertility and creation, the Great mother paintings are an emotional and symbolic expression of the great mother archetype experienced in motherhood

Karen painted while songs written by her son, soon to be a father, played in the background. Her mother, Audrey, died when Karen’s son was one year old. Suffering from early onset dementia, she had not spoken or recognised her family for seven years. Despite this, when she held her baby grandson in her arms, she did so with all the tenderness and skill of a mother to five and midwife to many, many more.

Forms hang expectantly in the space of the canvas. Softness of colour and tone are held by energetic, darker areas of line or shape.

The neutral space containing the forms and shapes hold the unknown, the yet to unfold, the chapters to be written. Messages, writings, doodles, visible or obscured are embedded in the works.

The paintings express the joy, love, tenderness and tension in relationship. They speak to personal and yet universal push-pull between parent and child, feelings that can be experienced in later adult relationships.

The lyrics chosen to accompany the paintings reflect this dynamic.