Layers of oil and gold glazing build a luminous surface where a sculpted Sacred Heart drips with metallic light. A skull cradled in a rose and the inscribed words Mother may I be me cut through the richness, confronting inherited ideas of purity and sin. This piece reflects the patient discipline of weeks of glazing, each layer revealing a deeper, more defiant beauty.

Artist’s Note

Raised Catholic, I grew up with the fire-and-brimstone story that women were the fall of man. Be proper. Be quiet. Born sinners. That weight never really leaves. Painting this work taught me how to peel those layers back. I can’t rush it—alaprima never works for me—so I build in slow, deliberate glazes until the painting breathes. Mother May I (Be Me) my answer: yes.