"Do your best ... until you know better ... then, do better" - Maya Angelou
It's evident that many have not received Dr. Angelou's memo. More black folks have died or been maimed at the hands of the police since my last post. More folks have died or been maimed by COVID-19 since my last post. Elected Senators in Kentucky and South Carolina have tested negative for backbones. Integrity has fled for the time being to another place. With the upcoming election, let's hope that integrity returns very soon.
The past month has been prolific, but I will only share a small amount of my output. In September, I enrolled in a non-synchronous printmaking class with Linda Germain. The class specifically focused on gelatin plate printing using only two colors and plants as stencils. Here's a view of one using just this technique:
Wait, I lie. This is one is doctored. I used dry pigment powder to add green and a white gel pen to add small highlights. It's spare enough where someone could think it was a monotype without the mixed media elements.
This one I pushed further. You'll see the green pigment and gel pen, but I gave this Begonia leaf a setting. Somehow, I kept hearing Alice's voice in my head about the shadows and put a lot of effort in the foreground. Then another voice mentioned distance; and instead of floating in air, this Begonia appears grounded.
Using plants as stencils is fun, but I wanted to try a landscape portrait using monotype and the mixed media techniques. "Reflect" is my message to myself to always do my best until I know better.
Monotype printing lends itself to abstract and abstract thought. When I pulled this print off the plate, I saw chaos and thought of our planet and the climate crisis.
Speaking of climate crisis and other crises which seem to occur weekly, A Message from the Future appeared in front of me. I had to cry (weep uncontrollably was more like it) as this is the future I have always talked about. Even from the time of being a little girl, this is the future I want to see. I had to cry because finally there's a movement. All the bullying and put downs I experienced as a little girl up into adult-hood finally shrank. We can have this and the sequel is equally wonderful. If you find yourself saying, "yes, but this is unrealistic": what we're doing right now is unrealistic; what were doing 50 years ago was unrealistic. None of us are the arbiter of reality, but collectively we can work differently and make a better world.
One last piece of art also completed in the last month. Be well and remember to vote.
