“Raven” is a painting about the connection between the physical and the psychological being. The pose was chosen to best illustrate strength, health and stamina, yet the delicacy and fragility of the body as a vessel of the soul, or interior being. The arm which holds the antler is steady and tired simultaneously; while the antler itself becomes a symbol of force and pride as it gently, yet firmly pushes into the soft flesh of the other extended arm. A wound to heal. Her expression is contemplative and somewhat distant as it betrays a possible array of thoughts, or perhaps a single issue. The slightly tentative quality of the gaze is used to the advantage of bringing the viewer in where one can identify with one’s own thoughts. The viewers’ ideas ultimately become the subject of the picture.
-WL