My Art

These paintings have been conceived while writing my first book Mothers, Babies and their Body Language during my research/observational work at the Birth Unit of St John & St Elisabeth Hospital in London. In the book I describe the complex dynamics and interactions between mother and baby from pregnancy to the earliest months of life. My oil paintings helped me portray different aspects of conception and pregnancy and the parent-baby relationship, and explore what may lie behind the manifest.

 

I have found a lot of similarities between paintings and observing. Painting is about fixing a process and capturing a dynamic state. Usually I paint images of diverse beliefs and interpretations, the details of the colours, outlines, and silhouettes of lowlands and hills after a journey. The ruthlessness of mountains and wider space of sea convert ideas about the process of change. In observing the rich body language of mothers and babies, a similar albeit more complex process occurs. Observation is the essence of therapy and healing and painting can be the healthy effect. As I attempt to convey in words the moment-by-moment changes during mother-baby interactions in my writing, I portray the invisible narratives between them, which is what Art is all about. Language cannot do full justice to the richness of the complex landscape of primary relationships.