Blossom

This piece of black art symbolises the beauty of blossoming into your authentic self. The woman in the centre of the piece has her eyes closed and therefore, is focussed on what is within, nourishing her sense of self-worth, respect and confidence rather than appealing to external sources for validation and approval. This signifies the importance of understanding and truly accepting who you are for yourself rather than others.

The unique style, texture and boldness of her hair is also a key focus point for this piece. Artist Nicole Thornton ensured that this was clearly visible to accentuate the beauty of wearing natural hair that compliments a woman’s natural beauty. Hence, this piece serves as a positive reminder that our natural hair is an asset rather than a burden that needs to be concealed.

The choice to make the background a bright pink colour was two-fold. The first reason was to make the piece softer and eye-catching. The second, and most importantly, to symbolise the various things we encounter in society that can easily distract and deter us from being our authentic selves, represented by the downward strokes of deep pink. However, Nicole specifically chose to make these strokes a similar colour to the background to underline how these external forces become weak when we are truly in touch with ourselves.

This original piece of artwork has been completed using a range of acrylic paints, including a range of grey and black paints for the woman in the centre of the piece and a bold pink colour for the background of the piece.

This piece has been completed on a box canvas sized 50.8 x 76.2cm.