Month: April 2024

I have recently completed a new painting, oil on panel, 18 by 24 inches.

This painting has been on the easel a bit longer than most, in part due to my schedule but also because it is fraught, fraught from fraught inspiration.

This fraught inspiration being the fetus, the abortion debate. Life. I will not  delve too personally into the abortion debate, suffice to say I am Roman Catholic, Catholic , with the orthodox perspective but also, through personal experiences, aware of the nuance, sensitive to the subtlety of this delicate matter.

That said, possessing this awareness, wary of the many prisms of this hard and sharp stone , I was taken aback by the cold callous attitude of friend, a dinner guest, who when the fraught topic of abortion, the fetus particularly , was (ill-advisedly)raised made an off hand comment that I found unsettling. We were speaking of the fetus, of its being and meaning and to this friend, from the very minute of conception to the very moment of birth, it was in her mind “Nothing”.

In her mind, a “mere blob of cells”.

I confess I was so startled by this shocking statement, its lacking of nuance, empathy, tenderness, that I found myself with tears in my eyes. So fraught  is this topic and yet for her  to so confidently sweep away all concern, all subtlety, all compassion  into the dustbin, into Nothingville, pained me deeply.  

My shock passed, the dinner ended convivially enough, yet secretly I was planning this painting…the friendship however has since faded away. 

As a boy, I was one of those anti-abortion protesters, I was gifted at sign making, my priest was especially proud of my efforts, he made quite the fuss. I glowed from the attention and was fierce in my youthful dedication. Images such as this poster below were  particularly inspiring. 

I am still moved and inspired. It is all very complicated yet not it seems for my former friend; yet she is incorrect , this no mere blob. That, if nothing else, seems clear to me.