The Story Behind Sophia

Some have asked, so I want to give a brief history of my Sophia drawing series. I have been an artist for years, usually painting serene, contemplative watercolor landscapes such as The Forest Large and Silent. But when I left the ministry and the church three years ago, something happened. Even though I continued painting landscapes, I also started to draw. I started to draw Sophia.

At the time, I didn't realize what I was doing or why. I just felt compelled to draw her sometimes a girl, sometimes a woman, sometimes clothed, sometimes nude. I thought I was drawing images that were meant to inspire and encourage women who were struggling for their own independence. But it was when I was drawing Cave that I realized I was drawing my own journey and that Sophia represented my inner self, my soul. The first image that will appear in the future book is the painfully graphic Trapped. This shows Sophia trapped, chained, metaphorically, in an obviously oppressive and toxic religion and relationship. She makes her Escape.

She dreams of taming rhinos, herding elephants, and lassoing sharks. She is on a journey to find herself, find her courage, find her own spirituality, find her own independence, find her own life. Eventually she discovers that she is so beautiful just as she is that she is almost ashamed. She is an Angel and is overwhelmed with the revelation that she is already perfect. One day she will walk into the Light a fully realized woman. In the one shown here, she is so determined to get there that she realizes she must go deep and she must go against the flow.

I drew and drew Sophia for three years until I had over 50 images. It feels like I am finished drawing her... for now. My plan is to compile her drawings into a book and tell her story more fully.