The story:
This is about a planet gone dead, and reawakening with new life eons of years later. The female represents the life force of the planet. In both images she is surrounded by tiny remnants of what used to be living creatures: fur, bones, shells, starfish exoskeletons, pearls, twigs. In the Awakening a few buds are beginning to appear on her bodice. Her eyes have just snapped open in that painting. It takes place the instant new life appears on the planet. The creature floating by is a sort of simple bacteria like life form that creates the initial spark as it passes by. The whole evolutionary cycle is about to begin again.

The underlying meaning:
Since the industrial age especially, the idea of the female/earth connection (such as the idea of a Mother Nature) has been seen as something that holds progress back and has nothing to do with the intellect and higher reasoning. It's seen as all soft and sentimental. At best it's humored as something that's very nice in theory, kind of like the way we regard a cute animal at the zoo. It's seen as something that is completely irrelevant when real business is at hand, such as the business of war, power, the economy and politics. These images blatantly show the planet as a female. This female/earth connection is in reality not only relevant, but is critical to our survival.

The Big Sleep

Awakening