This explores ideas of motherhood, child loss, mother-child relationships, and societal pressures on women with regard to motherhood. I have some bad history with Mother’s Day and this painting happened, unintentionally, on Mother’s Day weekend, 2024. This painting is small, but it carries a lot of love, for both my mother and daughter and my son who passed a short time after his birth. But it also carries a great deal of resentment, horror, rage, anger, and frustration at the human obsession with controlling motherhood and women.
Soft, Thick Rain, 2024. Watercolor, crayon, water soluble wax crayon, acrylic ink on paper.
An experiment with textures and techniques, I finished it on one of those rare days that I can open the window in my hellish apartment and not be immediately assaulted with stench and pollution and noise. It was one of those days of rain when the drops are lovely, fat, and fall slowly through the not too cold air, and puffs of wind beckon. It wound up working for a water theme show and tell at my art group, and it has grown on me immensely. I really like this little piece.
Tears in the Mouth, 2022. Watercolor, crayon, water soluble wax crayon, acrylic ink on paper.
Instructions from a wise one to turn the act of a shitty human into power for myself and my family. I haven’t quite fulfilled that quest yet, but I am getting there.
Lacrymose Power, 2022. Watercolor, crayon, acrylic ink on paper.
Turning grief and hatred into the power to move on and upward. Still working on it, but getting there perhaps. The whole title of this piece is “Some Lacrymose Power That Resides in the Mouth”. This, and “Tears in the Mouth” are a pair, and “the Mouth” is actually a reference to a Lough in mythic Ireland. The tale in which you will find this Lough is deeply important to me and most of my work contains a piece of that story. Reclaiming my own power to counter the act of a shitty human lies at the core of these paintings.
Mutterances No.1, 2022. Watercolor, acrylic ink, water soluble wax crayon on paper.
The Mutterances paintings started some time in 2022, I do remember really beginning to recognize the damage that social media was doing to me. These paintings were my response to the constant nagging, outgassing, finger-waggling bullshit that I kept hearing from every corner of the net, and understanding that it was well past time for me to begin to distance myself from social media or I would lose myself entirely. The full title is Mutterances, I Promise You Will Not Like This. These paintings conducted a lot of anger, frustration, and everything that would never be heard, into the impetus to begin the step-away. To return to the personal distance which I feel I have to keep between myself and the rest of the world to retain some form of sanity.
Mutterances No. 2, 2022. Watercolor, acrylic ink on paper. Dimensions: 8 3/8 x 11 1/4 inches on 9×12 paper
The Mutterances paintings started some time in 2022, I do remember really beginning to recognize the damage that social media was doing to me. These paintings were my response to the constant nagging, outgassing, finger-waggling bullshit that I kept hearing from every corner of the net, and understanding that it was well past time for me to begin to distance myself from social media or I would lose myself entirely. The full title is Mutterances, I Promise You Will Not Like This. These paintings conducted a lot of anger, frustration, and everything that would never be heard, into the impetus to begin the step-away. To return to the personal distance which I feel I have to keep between myself and the rest of the world to retain some form of sanity. No. 2 is probably my darkest experience of this.
Mutterances No.3, 2022. Watercolor, acrylic ink.
This final installment of the Mutterances series is where I began to follow through on distancing myself from the impossible noise. The Mutterances paintings started some time in 2022, I do remember really beginning to recognize the damage that social media was doing to me. These paintings were my response to the constant nagging, outgassing, finger-waggling bullshit that I kept hearing from every corner of the net, and understanding that it was well past time for me to begin to distance myself from social media or I would lose myself entirely. The full title is Mutterances, I Promise You Will Not Like This. These paintings conducted a lot of anger, frustration, and everything that would never be heard, into the impetus to begin the step-away. To return to the personal distance which I feel I have to keep between myself and the rest of the world to retain some form of sanity.
Pale Warm Oxide, 2024. Watercolor, acrylic ink, colored pencil, watersoluble wax crayon on paper. 10 3/8 x 13 1/2 inches.
An ode to my blood, which I value greatly. The effects of severe anemia take their toll and I appreciate every drop of the red stuff running through my veins, and I appreciate everything that strengthens its constitution.
The Somnambulist, 2023-24. Watercolor, watercolor crayon and pencil, acrylic ink on paper. 10 1/4 x 14 3/8
Dreams, and the worlds and journeys found therein. Are dreams the vehicle or the destination? Both? I think both, that’s what it seems like to me. These are dreamers and dreams. Dreams are important for me, both in simply living and in my work.