Ros Garden

The great mystical film " 2001 : A Space Odyssey " ends with beautiful and dramatic images of the unborn child, making us think about where we came from and where we are going. Ever since seeing the film I have been fascinated by the image of the unborn child made ever clearer by new technologies. After art school I experimented in a new kind of " Madonna and Child " icon, trying to show the Christ child in Mary's womb. I failed. The torso of the Madonna looked as if it had been opened up by a surgeon. I first saw stoney landscape and stone wall formations in the west of Ireland, but only became familiar with them when I came to live and teach art on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The east side of the islands are covered in a stoney landscape, with many old buildings with stone formations. From this came the idea of building up a painting of the Madonna in stone-like formation and placing the images on individual stones. It worked. In the image of the " Blue Madonna " I used the blue colours in order to give it a mystical look. The main formation is in the magnified shape of a woman's ovum where the egg of life is produced. To the left there are spirals which symbolise God the Father, Christ is in the womb-stone, and to the right is the dove of the Holy Spirit. The hand and face of the Madonna caress and contemplate the Christ child.