© Sara Smerdon

The source within

Acrylic on canvas

50x109

1998

The motivation on beginning this painting was to pay homage to a girlfriend, a woman connected strongly with earth energy (in contrast to air, fire or water). I envisioned her laying on the ground reaching into the earths centre for power, yet it was not until I was close to completion that I realised what I in fact had painted (a feminine body emerging in the forms of the rock and lava) was her reaching into the core of herself for strength and balance.