Birds and Bees (1992 - 1994)

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Time does not heal all wounds. It just buries them deep. This series of paintings emerged from the depths of my private underworld. Somewhere in each bird or flower or creature is a story about a memory and many denied feelings gone deep beyond recall. The period of life relived through these painted metaphors was a time of childhood when my primary response to my environment was allegorical.

As the images took shape, my understanding of their meaning evolved. The beckoning for tangible form of each idea, born as picture, has consumed my life for the duration of their creation. Every object, life form, and color now lives as a part of myself that I have reclaimed. The flush juxtaposition of each panel to each other suggests division and compartmentalization drawn together in a narrative mosaic. The order of the images responds to a chronology of affect and not of time. The difference in size of the fifth canvas correlates to the importance of the events and feelings portrayed there.

Color as an instrument of spirituality and emotional force evolved as I worked. While I did respect the inherent color of some objects, other colors were chosen for their pure symbolic value. For example, the blue dress of the angel in the fifth painting was borrowed from Byzantine art. The most important figure in a Byzantine mural was clothed in a deep blue.

Other decisions about color aesthetics relied on the harmonic appeal of contrasts in a full range palette. Using a full range palette takes me back to childhood also. Children adore bright colors. There is irony in this visual appeal. The evil ideas being conveyed in these paintings are hiding behind a facade, like nice families who harbor dark secrets.

- Martha Hollingsworth, 1994

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