Portfolio > Recent Paintings

Madonna of the Dinosaura
Madonna of the Dinosaurs
Oil on canvas
20" x 24"
2023

Madonna of the Dinosaurs is painted after the mannerist masterpiece, Madonna of the Long Neck by Parmigianino. As part of my Motherhood is Metal series, this piece is also inspired by 70s and 80s metal album covers, and the art of Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell and Frank Frazetta. The angel wings and the dinosaur are in fact made of chrome. The dress the Madonna is wearing is a haute couture gown by the incredible designer, Iris van Herpen, whose otherworldly ethereal gowns mix fashion and science.
In a frankly desolate and apocalyptic background, dressed in couture, the Madonna takes a moment to feed her babe. This is what it feels like: polar opposite forces pulling on us as we simply do what our whole being compels us to do. The couture symbolizes the beauty, intricacy, and preciousness of breastfeeding, while the apocalyptic background and landscape are the constant social pressures of feeling like you, your body and especially your milk are not enough to nourish and feed your babe. The angels are the inner voice, the deep knowing that helps us to refocus and to trust, to hunker deeper into the yumminess affirmation that comes with bodily nourishing your own child, and to believe with our souls that we, as mothers, are wholly enough.