Portrait of N.R

Having known N.R. for over 20 years I was very grateful for the opportunity to paint her in her home in Berlin, Germany. After thoughts on my own impressions of N.R over these two decades and conversations at her home, the following ekphrasis formed the point of departure for the painted work:

You thought you saw me, 

standing in the valley.

Efforts to spread my fires over you 

on your rock

and me and them. 

Eruptions of myself 

and those I became.

You thought you could claim them 

and tame them,

form the bricks you neatly layer 

to build your sorrow home. 

But it was a false reflection 

on troubled waters, 

for you will never see the worlds 

I have quietly built within my ocean 

using the strength I gathered taking it all down. 

I am the mountain,

grown to great heights.

Freedom.