Pregnancy in Purple

Purple takes over this painting.

I was interested in using a cool, almost otherworldly palette to explore the pregnant figure, the curves of the body, the sense of weight and movement, and the strange transformation that happens as a person grows inside you.

The purple, cool tones, and white create a quieter mood than some of my other pregnancy paintings, but there is still plenty happening within the figure. The shapes overlap and shift, giving the body an almost sculptural quality. It feels familiar, but not entirely realistic.

Pregnancy has always fascinated me as a subject because it is both completely ordinary and completely extraordinary. We all know what a pregnant woman looks like, but the actual experience of a body changing so dramatically is anything but ordinary.

I wanted to capture some of that feeling without making the painting overly sweet or sentimental. Instead, the color and forms do the work. Purple gives the figure a little mystery, while the lighter areas bring the body forward and keep the composition from becoming too heavy.

Pregnancy is already a pretty extraordinary transformation. Sometimes it just needs a little purple.