My depiction of Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." I dreamt of this image and it's construction long before I picked up the pencil. I sought to create an almost overwhelming text effect, repeating the themes in the foreground as well as the background...meditating on the power that the elaborate, embroidered, symbolic "A" had on Hester. If you are familiar with the novel, red, black and gray are all quite pervasive. Hester's illegitimate child's name is Pearl, thus the symbolic image of the gem carried in her hand. In the end, Hester's courage and character transformed the "A" which stood for Adulteress, into something quite different, that letter came to represent to "Angel" or "Able".