Book Thing

Long time since I posted… this is a gift I made for a friend… the crude stitching is crude on purpose… kinda was going for a super rustic messy kind of look with this… I think I achieved it pretty well. Anyway, my friend loves it… and that was the point. Looking forward to more book making in the future.

Front Cover

Inner Front Cover

Pockets!

Back Cover… nothing to see

Pocket!

Pocket!

Pocket Page

 

This one… well, this was from a class I took recently… “Mental Health Art Journaling”

They wanted us to kinda keep it positive… which is fine… this opened the door for me to use up much of what I have accumulated over the years — old writings, drawings, clippings, etc. I have saved things with the intention of creating a zine… and lo, the things do sit. I will be excited to play around some more.’

I am not intent on these being positive for myself. I have a ton of old poetry that would be perfect paired with a mixed media project like this.

Front cover

Inside

Hideaway image

A bit closer, love

Back cover

 

Day 9 & 10 of the 30 Day Painting Challenge

All caught up!

Playing around. Masking, spattering, blowing with a straw, with a wash on top...

I'm really fond of this. I might do a larger elaboration later. This was done with rubbing alcohol.

Day 8 of 30 Day Painting Challenge

Day 6 & 7 of 30 Day Painting Challenge

Just 3 more after these and I will be caught up. I kept all my failed studies from college and chopped them up into small panels for this challenge. I still have one sheet of super high quality watercolor paper, but I’m hesitant to use it just yet. I’m so out of practice. Enjoying myself though! 

This was going to be more realistic, but that requires some planning and technique! Not there yet!

Just a study. A basic, basic study.

Watercolor

Just got a set of decent WC and I’m playing around for the first time since college. I’m participating in 30 days of painting. I’m behind, so I’m doing a bunch of little paintings to catch up.

My EZJ (Eliza Jane)

Just so you can see how small they are!

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was born on December 25, 1995. He’s been sentenced to death for protesting the tyrannical Saudi Arabian government at the age of 16. He was 17 at the time of his arrest. His confession was obtained by way of torture and his trials were secretive and unfairly conducted, as he was not allowed his rightful representation. At any moment he could be beheaded. His head will then be reattached, and his lifeless body will be publicly crucified for three days. *** if you’re super curious about what this looks like, there are some very graphic photos available online. Absolute barbarism. I don’t recommend curiosity. ***

Ali is by no means the only young person facing a barbaric sentence. There are at least three others facing similar sentences.

There are specific rights for child detainees which are outlined by the United Nations Human Rights Council, who, in very poor taste, welcomed Saudi Arabia-a country where beheading, crucifixion, stoning, amputation, and lashings are commonplace punishments-as chairman! The Saudi Arabian government who is in direct violation of international law. It is very bizarre indeed, that the OHCHR should publish this information, given the Saudi appointment to the council.

The Saudi Arabian government is also funding ISIS…

And yet, the United States of America insists on remaining allied with this terrifying country, who issued a statement threatening social media users with the death penalty for speaking out against the atrocities they commit against their own citizens… basically saying, “fuck you, we kill who we want!”

Is this a governmental body that should be sitting at the helm of a human rights council?

Hell. No.

I urge you to take an interest in this case. They want your ignorance, your apathy… please don’t give it to them. Think about the message that it will send to other tyrants if you choose not to speak up. One life matters. All life matters.

I urge you to look at those eyes and see the face of your own child, your brother, nephew, friend. When I look at him, I see my sweet brothers, and I see that this could be either of them. Ali could be every one of us.

I painted this in an effort to help the campaign to save Ali’s life.

It’s not my best work, but I had to do it in a hurry. It’s heading to a gallery in NYC whose owner is very sympathetic to Ali’s plight. This is so intimidating for me. New York knows the art world. I don’t. But it doesn’t matter. Nor does my pride or vanity.

Please take a moment to sign the petition urging the Obama administration to negotiate the release of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, and then share it. 

#AliMohammedAlNimr #SaveNimr #AliAlNimr #Ali_AlNimr #OpNimr

Oil Pastel Play

I was recently challenged to play with oil pastels and here is the result so far. I’m not quite finished…. yes, it is a take on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. I will be getting something else with them soon!

Healing via Paint

Over the last several months, I have had a really difficult time. A family member had been living with us and as can be expected of such arrangements, it made life very challenging and it ended terribly. I am working toward recovery, but it’s been a long journey so far. What has resulted is the end of a formerly close relationship with said family member, and a lot of grieving. I poured some of this into the largest painting I have ever done. It isn’t finished yet, but here it is.

It felt good to do it. I haven’t done much painting since October 2014, which, as I think about it, was when the whole scenario began. Wow. Amazing how deeply impacted you are by the presence of toxic people.

I hope that once the dust settles a bit more, I will be better able to begin again on my goals in posting at least once a month with a project. And I should clarify that I haven’t been totally creatively dormant. I took up embroidery over the winter and in accordance with my somewhat caustic humor, I made some fun projects. I also started playing with clay a bit and made these three likenesses of my cats, (L to R) Henry, Gilly, and EZJ (Eliza Jane). Lots of fun. Imperfect, but who cares? Not me. I have not played much with clay. I took a pottery class around 10 years ago. Made some cool bowls, which my cats eat and drink from, but I am not a wizard by any means. Anyway, I really hope I can get back to it very soon. So do my furry ones. I think they think I am irritating, always taking pictures and stuff… but they are just so cute. ❤

PS – I should add also that I have begun a rather enormous undertaking… I am compiling my written works, drawings, etc. into a sort of zine… kind of akin to wringing out a sponge. More on this later.

Frida

For my 36th birthday, my family took me to the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the Frida & Diego in Detroit exhibit. I’m not a huge fan of Diego Rivera, though I certainly do appreciate his work. Rivera Court is nothing short of mind blowing, if only looking at the scale of it, not to mention the incredible skill. But Diego simply isn’t my favorite. He isn’t Frida.

Little Frida and I are not impressed.

I don’t think I could ever keep it secret how much I adore Frida Kahlo. Being given the opportunity to see her work was like spending time with her. I could feel her presence in the room with me, speaking to me personally, inviting me in. The tough part was sharing her with so many other people when I really just wanted to be alone with her for a while… to feel her more intimately.

In lieu of this, I still connected with her. The presence of other humans did not detract from her beauty, or her voice… And, for a few moments, there was a special bond that I experienced with the other women there. No one spoke of it, but it was very loud, and it all came about because of one little painting.

Henry Ford Hospital, Frida Kahlo

It was so interesting to watch and to participate in this… through the whole exhibit, people dodged eye contact, avoided standing too close to each other, acted as though the many others in the room did not exist. And yet, where this painting was concerned, the women couldn’t get close enough. At all times, it seemed that we packed in like sardines. It was okay to be too close, to have our shoulders touching, to lean in to the point where your face was only inches from a perfect stranger’s face. Here the closeness to others… more specifically to other women… felt necessary. Though others bustled behind us, casually glancing over our shoulders, or perhaps passing up the opportunity to look at this very small, yet incredibly powerful work — those who did look, did so in silence, and lingered there.

Frida & Diego

My own love affair with Frida began more than 10 years ago, but until this weekend my connection felt a little lacking. There was always a desire to know her better. I have read books; I have been to Mexico (though not to her home… that is a huge dream of mine that I mean to fulfill!!!); I have been in awe of her life since I became aware of it; and my family has a connection to her through Diego Rivera. A Rivera print from the 30’s or 40’s has hung in my father’s childhood home since he was a boy. The story goes that during a vacation to Mexico, my grandfather (1896-1971) encountered Rivera and struck up a conversation. The two hit it off and the painter gave him a print. Both of my grandparents are long buried, so whether or not this is true will never be known, but I choose to believe it is. I like let my imagination carry the encounter, thinking that perhaps Frida was there. That, perhaps they met and shook hands and that moment was passed through my bloodline. In this way, I can curl up with her like an old friend–one of those with whom you feel such a strong kinship that you actually miss them in a physical sense, and long for your next encounter because you know that you will experience wholeness for a time. I feel this bond with Frida. Though her body perished long ago, her spirit still moves here. She is, in the very best sense of the word, immortal. May we all pour as much of ourselves into life as she did.

Found somewhere on tumblr… please let me use it!!

PS — As I walked the Frida exhibit, one of my own paintings sold! 

Cattails

It’s been a long time between posts and honestly,  I haven’t painted since November when I posted my green man. He hangs on the wall unfinished and unsold. I keep meaning to finish his eyes but I’m not sure what to do with them yet and I’m concerned about choosing incorrectly.

So instead of actually coming to a decision about it, or starting something new in the meantime, I have done nothing in the way of painting.

Also, depression. Fucking depressing winter depression! I’ve had a very tough time snapping out of this shit this year. I’ve been doing embroidery, which has been really fun for me and has helped alleviate some of the funk.

I painted tonight.  It did me a lot of good. Not finished, but here it is.