Bird Goddess Triptych 1987
Graves Art Gallery

I did these paintings in 1987.The three paintings are individually called: The Bird Goddess, She Re-emerges and the Goddess of Transformation.

I was very interested in using neolithic images as a starting point, particularly for developing positive images of women, particularly fat women. The source imagery came from one of Marija Gimbutas books; the bird goddess from a particular statue, She Re-emerges more generally from neolithic 'venus' figures (and my own body shape) and the Goddess of Transformation from the idea of a 'butterfly' goddess and it's representation as a labrys, a image taken up as a lesbian symbol in the 1970s.

The Triptych is displayed here at the Graves Art Gallery in Sheffield as part of an exhibition by a women's art group called 'Women and Change'.

The paintings are on paper and are painted with household gloss paint - I used to beg the ends of tins from friends, which meant I could paint large works cheaply! I stopped using the paint as I became allergic, if not to the gloss paint itself, to the white spirit I used to clean brushes and myself - I'm a very messy painter!