"Mary's going home" (Modern Icon series: The Assumption) Painting

This work was inspired by my interest in old religious icons and paintings. I wondered what the paintings/sculptures would look like now if we had only just heard about the Christian religion and wanted it to be identifiable with people today. Especially how we would attract the young into a new religion. It is part of my collection Modern Icons. The annunciation is the story of Mary being taken into heaven intact – her body and soul, rather than just her soul. I wanted to include her mind too, as I feel, in her story, she had been through so much that her mind was a very important part of who Mary was. And today her strength of mind would be celebrated a lot more than it was for women in the past. I wanted to show her older, with a young mind and pure, but knowing, soul. I want it to look painted, with brush strokes showing and feelings of movement in the cloth - quick and fluid. I chose to use a gold leaf effect to give it the reverence that the old icons portrayed. Once again the amazing photographer Barabara Peacock allowed me to reference her work for the models.