Two New Artworks
The Virgin's Heart
Tanya Torres
Acrylic on canvas
8" wide x 10" high
2018
I have been working a lot with materials such as pearlescent inks, gold outliners and matte paint in contrast to glossy paint, materials that helped my new Dark Magdalene series emerge. I had been using these inks and paints for a while, but limiting them to my abstract jewelry paintings and paintings on tile. But when I went to Puerto Rico, and the humidity and heat changed the way materials behaved, I had to find new ways to create. It was also a mental shift, a way to work that matched what I was feeling and experiencing in my new temporary environment. I was feeling shiny ;)
The Virgin's Heart is an ambiguous piece because most will identify it with Mary the Mother due to the color blue and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. But she is also Mary Magdalene, whose heart was transformed by Infinite Love.The background is blue, pearlescent and plain, a place to rest and breathe. The veil is adorned with roses ,a symbol of Mary Magdalene and also of the Virgin Mary. The heart shines with colors and fire, a symbol of pure love and pure loving.
Dark Magdalene: Garden
by Tanya Torres
Acrylic on canvas
9" wide x 12" high
2018
I have been painting flowers with these materials, all my favorite flowers, and inspired by Eastern European icons adorned with beads, I created this Dark Magdalene with patterns on the veil and the hair.
In this original 9" x 12" painting, the colors are dark, the background is black, and they integrate the traces that represent that which is not written, the stories not told. These traces are painted in gold ink. The details are outlined in raised gold paint. Pearlescent inks, matte acrylic paint, and gold outlines give shape to this interpretation of Mary Magdalene as the Dark Magdalene.
The best description I can give of the Dark Magdalene was given to me by my friend Jerry Koljeski: "The Dark Magdalene loves from the warmth and depths of her darkness, her darkness which is warm and beautiful and deep."
We may not know here "real story" but our hearts are able to feel and learn it.
