This painting speaks generally about women and their moon cycle. The pose illustrates how females, during this time, can feel both physically and emotionally contorted. Yet this period is a necessary process of introspection, cleansing and rejuvenation. The triangle and the circle both represent the womb/yoni. The circle specifically represents the continuous cycle that takes place in our bodies, and the dashed crescent moon symbolizes the guiding force behind this cycles and the sacred feminine.

I use the technique of chiaroscuro (high contrast from light to dark) to reference how a woman’s depth can only be rendered with her dark shadows present as well as her light. I want to step away from the assumption that the female nude has to be reduced to dehumanized sex symbol or an allegorical figure of purity to be well received. The personal stories of female subjects are scarcely told and often censored. I intend to show that beauty is incomplete without humanizing factors that a woman obtains throughout her life. I utilize wood as the foreground to illustrate the raw nature of the content.