Good morning everyone,

I share with you my recent painting which I titled Whispers of Freedom. This piece symbolises the powers of a woman perceived to be silenced. The mouth is replaced by a symbol of a Mockinjay bird. The bird is a character developed in the Hunger games movie franchise. It’s a symbol of hope and freedom for the persecuted, oppressed and silenced. It’s a bird that encourages them to rise up and fight to claim their power back.

I used a black woman as a subject of this painting because that’s who I am and I relate with. As women, we’ve been silenced and oppressed and made to believe we can’t amount to much but that’s not true. We are rising up and taking our place. We are making waves and making a name for ourselves. This painting is to remind every single woman that we can achieve whatever it is we set our minds to do.

The painting is an oil painting made on a canvas. While working on this piece, I decided to try an under-painting first. Unfortunately this affected the colors I intended to achieve in the final look. Since I had no official art training, mostly what I do is trial and error. I’m glad the painting was redeemed at the end of the day. Maybe next time I try an under-painting, I’d have a better understanding of how to go about it.

Another challenge I faced was the yellow colour background I planned for the piece. I didn’t know bright yellow color doesn’t conceal like other colours. By the time I tried to put in the background, I noticed the grid lines were still very much visible. Instead of the plain yellow I initially planned, I had to settle for a yellow orchre. That eventually got the work done.

Below is the process picture of how I achieved the painting and I hope you like and resonate with the piece.