Today I am wondering if the reason for your negative responsive to my work has more to do with the fact that I did give a new interpretation to your personal image of Mary.

It is okay to have a favorite image of Mary, but it is okay too that others see her differently. This idea that we can’t give new life, form, or interpretations to what is already available in our lives is a common thought habit for people with rigid thinking. It is this kind of thinking that keeps people in situations they don’t want, and leading lives they don’t believe in because they can’t see what is there with new eyes.

Your comment made me think about the importance of always see the world with new eyes and that way one can never take any thing for granted.

For your information, not all renderings of people, historical or contemporary, are always done from an artist’s imagination. Sometimes an artist will use a live model or an inanimate object, or work form a picture. Since Mary could not pose for my pictures of her, I used a photo of a statue (that I took), that I liked as a model and a point of reference. There is absolutely nothing unethical or illegal in that.

My ability to recapture some of its features was what I hoped for, but my individual creativity is also stressed in my ability to express her in my unique use of oil pastels, my use of texture, and color combinations. You obviously don’t know much about the world of art and how artists create. I am sorry if you are offended by my work, but others have really appreciated it, and I myself am very happy and proud of my work.

Before I continue, I want to see if this gets to you.

How nice to hear form you. I appreciate you feedback.