Just before we started the quarantine I felt the need to pay a sincere tribute to mothers, I wanted to paint a motherhood that faithfully reflected that primal love, a source of tenderness.
It has been 22 days dedicated intensely to the making of this piece. During this time of confinement I have seen on the news health personnel risking themselves in hospitals, the vast majority of them women, masked heroines who face an invisible enemy. Their main weapons are their know-how and the affection with which they take care of their patients without caring, in many cases, about their own protection. This image of the healing, sensitive, capable and resilient woman becomes increasingly necessary and essential. It always has been, but these days it is more evident than ever and I think it is important to highlight its “superpowers”. In these times I believe that we must value our feminine part: the “yin” versus the masculine and warrior “yang”. In this war you don't see so many soldiers and you feel the strength of the feminine.
This painting is a huge “THANK YOU” to my mother who is no longer here – although she will always be by my side and I will call her when I am afraid – and to all those who are, who have been or who will be.
I want to thank the photographer Pablo Lorenzana for giving me the photo that inspired this painting and the models Alexandra Núñez Alonso and the little girls Olivia and Vera. Thank you. It has been a wonderful journey.
"Maternity"
Oil on canvas.
80×60cm
#TONOVELASCO #TONOVELASCO
