2022

My mother sits in her living room chair under the blanket that I gave her, taking lunch and completing the Irish Time crossword, between the cool light of her garden and the warm light of her reading lamp, in Dublin, Ireland where she lives alone. During the 18 months during which I could not leave California I often imagined sitting in the sofa that gives this perspective; after I got back to Ireland in summer of 2021 where I did sit for many hours over several months. I started this painting soon after returning to California. I see it as a effort to hold her close, expressed as the work progressed in tiny vivid details and saturated colors: holding onto her real physical presence.