Cynthia Joy Sitton

Demeter and Persephone
oil on panel
20 x 28 in.

Narrative serves as a vehicle in which the duality between reason and emotion coexist. Intellectually I can structure the manner in which I hope the viewer will read the painting leaving room for the viewer to bring a part of their personal script into the story. I am always striving to establish some kind of connection, some solace in a universal commonality, our emotions. Beginning with a mythological content, consciously looking for the similarities transcending into contemporary life, I lay the groundwork for the foundation of the painting. As ideas flow, connections are established, it is in the emotions that unconsciously the painting begins to speak. However deliberate I intend a message the unconscious comes through at times subtly, while other times with uncomfortable ferocity. This has always been the magic of painting for me.

When my oldest child was stricken with schizophrenia at the age of 17 the magic became not only a way in which I felt connection but also a way in which I could heal. I find refuge in the power of myth at an even deeper level. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “The myths are clues to unite the forces within us”.

© Cynthia Joy Sitton