This piece was created in hand-mixed egg tempera. You have to work fast, before the egg yolk spoils. Since it was such a traditional medium, I thought I'd choose a traditional subject. I am not religious but grew up in the shadow of a gothic cathedral where my grandmother took me to mass, so Catholic imagery is very familiar and meaningful to me. Mary's face owes something to Picasso; she also looks slightly bored, as if she were asking the angels, "What am I doing here?" I did not want to do a full-on religious icon, but added a little bit of attitude. To believers, of course, she is the eternal and universal mother, a symbol for all motherhood.