This sweet piece was actually a rescue from one of my old SoulBearers, a MotherDaughter duo that I did a good few years back. It’s not that I didn’t love them together but they were rather large and the piece felt too overwhelming to finish at the time. So when I was recycling in my studio earlier this year, I decided to separate the two of them and I saved the “daughter” part. I loved her roundish back. Her sweet neck kept breaking so I had much work to do to save this sweet soul. I sometimes wonder why I persevere with these rescues when I could just start over but maybe there is something in the act of finding new stories, the digging a little deeper and perhaps the rescue mission… I’m not sure exactly.

Now when I see her, finished, with her soulful expression, body gestures and stance - I am so glad I took the time to find her.

I know lately, I’ve been taking my time on my artworks - working a little, moving away and coming back to work on unfinished pieces months later, reworking old pieces and some rescues. I am loving the gentleness and quietness in this way of creating. If I’m not mistaken all in all she’s taken 3 odd years to come to fruition and now she’s ready to be seen, known and held.

I am completely mystified by this process and idea and deeply moved by it at the same time. I am realizing more and more that I’m loving works that take time to find their way. Some appear immediately and there is a kind of flow in that place but some others are perhaps meant to linger a little longer in our lives. As for this little soulful being, she has blackbirds painted on her back as a reminder to me of my week with the blackbirds. Since my trip and getting to play and feed the blackbirds, I’ve been seeing blackbirds everywhere and when I look at her little face I see a little bird like character there.

I’m so grateful for this creative time.