This week has seen the aid worker Karen Woo murdered in Afghanistan by the Taliban. She was only 36 years old and about to be married. My painting doesn't do her justice but as I was painting it I had a real sense of her.
Her short life and the unfairness of her situation resonated strongly with me. I'm spending a lot of time with my mum and dad, both in their 80's, and until recently in great health, doing everything together and a bit of an institution in their local neighbourhood. I wanted to show the tenuous hold we all have on life and as I was finishing the painting it seemed apt to let some of the paint drip. The running paint seemed to remind me that we're never complete and never have total control of anything.
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