I believe that portraits are a gateway to understanding and compassion. These works in soft pastel are selections from my series “Ecstasy & Surrender”. During the initial project, paint was poured over individuals as they internally recited a mantra about surrender. The pastel paintings that emerged captured expressions reflecting ecstatic moments of surprise, delight, fear, shame and sometimes, of letting go. I am inspired by bodies and the stories they tell in gesture form and movement, and I am humbled by the tactile experience of translating their essence into marks on a surface. This artistic exploration of surrender runs parallel to my own experience of working with pastels as a medium; pastels resist any urge to hold on too tightly, and so they too have taught me something about letting go.
