I painted this in response to a piece of music: Sebelius, Op. 26, “Finlandia”. This song brings me to tears. I painted the colors of the earth, the blue sky and oceans, the green of plants and trees, the gold light of the sun, and the beating hearts of we who are her children. I've been working on a series using many transparent layers, very free and playful, and then doing the border in a smooth opaque to contrast with the heavily textured layers. I had envisioned the earth surrounded by the deep dark of space, but as I was painting the border ( a deep blue-black) what turned up was a figure that speaks to me of an old Ukrainian woman standing strong in her love and defense of her nation.