Prayer

As is often my practice, this painting was created over an older work, with layers applied over several months during 2021. The canvas sat on a shelf in my studio, patiently waiting, until one day I had an urge to find a figure within it. Inspired by a simple life drawing of a model’s 2-minute pose, I used charcoal to sketch and rub in a figure, working details in pastel, working and reworking the position of the head and the expression several times. The pose, a kind of reverse prayer position, appealed to me, as well as the female figure’s scraped and scarred body. The final incarnation of this image attempts to express what this time of restriction, upheaval, intense change, fatigue, grief, courage feel like to me.