Listening to the audio tape book reading of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” inspired this painting. I had not seen the video until a year after completing the painting and my character does not resemble Stella in appearance. What I am depicting in this piece is a cool, calm, collected, classy, corporate woman of color on vacation in the Jamaica. She begins to “thaw” in a passionate way. On the original 22" x 30" watercolor, the spiral pattern on her jacket is collaged on. The spirals have gold thread embroidered
onto them, to signify elegance. The pattern then “spirals out of control” until it turns into a dancing native that could be considered part of her ancestry.
This piece was challenging, because I haven’t painted large figures since college. My husband was away for the week that I worked on the piece and the woman started to seem more real than just a paper image. There is a certain suspension of reality when I create. I tap into a reserve that is similar to what young children have, before society tells them what is and isn’t “true or real”. Madeleine L’Engle addresses this concept in her book, “Walking On Water”.
For each Passion Spiral print ordered, a donation will be made to The National Council of Negro Women, Inc., Washington, DC.
