Back to Work

 

Well, the chatter from classes is dying down in my head, at least when I'm awake, and the quiet of the studio is drawing me in. I ended up standing in front of this painting for a while, and saw it with fresh(er) eyes.

    I was pretty much ready to give up on this painting. I have been feeling like I had completely lost the thread of it. The last time I posted about this piece, I was considering the nest idea, and I had sketched them in. I'll admit I was a little intimidated by the idea of drawing nests. Between then and now, my inventive sculpture students made their own nests. The images of their work is still in my eyes, and they are helping me make sense of the construction. 

    All but one of the nests my students made were traditional cup nests, made out of sticks and grass and various found objects. The other one was a leap forward in concept, although I'm not sure the artist was conscious of it at the time. It was unique because it was constructed out of 1/4" armature wire, lined with some sheets of tissue. The idea of this traditionally cozy place being made of metal and a fragile material like tissue struck me as brilliant. I will admit, I am tempted to steal the idea :)

    Here's why I probably won't: The little figures are demons, so their skin will be blue. They were a joy to work on today. It's such a relief to draw what I want! Anyway, if the nest is metallic grays, the demons won't be very visible. I could make an argument for that, because baby birds are brown in brown nests; it's good camouflage. But not necessarily good composition. And that will most likely win.

Not much, but it's a start

Yesterday, I walked into my studio for the first time in weeks, I'm ashamed to say. It drew me in and plopped me down in front of my easel, I mentioned before that I've been thinking about Lilith, and the punishment she endured for sticking up for herself. When I sat down, without much planning, I sketched in some nests with little demons in them. Right now, they are kind of hard to see, and at this point, they look like big blue flowers, but it's a start.

 

That Round Painting and Lilith the Djinnia

 Well, I haven't posted in a long time. Teaching has taken every ounce of energy and creativity that I've had.

Every now and then I walk by that round painting, and I still think it is too pretty. But I haven't known how to change that. I may be making some progress on that front. 

During the nightmare of this semester, a theme of monsters has emerged, both from school assignments like the gargoyles I posted earlier, and from a friend's generous gift of Djinn stories, as well as a recommendation to listen to the podcast  The Hidden Djinn by Rabia Chaudry.

One of the references that has come up is that in some cultures, Lilith is considered to be a djinn. And she is usually incredibly beautiful. She is often painted as a spurned woman, but it seems to me that she is the one who refused to be dominated and was punished for it. I guess that would tend to make one cranky. 

So, I'm trying to think about how I could give the girl in the round painting an edge, to make her refer to the Dinija Lilith. I have one idea about it, but I'll save it until I get it worked out.

Maybe it takes some monsters to get us through this tough time. 

Please stay well and wear a 😷.