The right speaker

There are people who have words for a particular situation that make you stop, sit up, and pay attention. James Baldwin is one of those. And although the things he said were certainly applicable during his lifetime, they also seem peculiarly addressed to us now, in our current situation.

I sat through the so-called presidential debate last night watching the man in charge of our collective welfare bully his opponent mercilessly and maliciously, and lie through his teeth over and over again with a confident smirk on his face. Tonight I went looking for some way to address him through my art, and got a helping hand from Baldwin. This statement is so simple, yet so starkly true. It echoes the quote I love from Maya Angelou, that "when people show you who they are, believe them," and states my exact response to our leadership: "I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do."

It also, of course, addresses the other revolution taking place in our country right now, which is the effort to see what we do to the black lives among us and choose to do better. Dual purpose Baldwin, you might say.

I owe the background color scheme to a piece Deb Weiers just finished and posted, although mine is a little tamer. But I think it works well in contrast to the purple. Other than color and a little exaggeration and flourish here and there, I stayed pretty realistic with this one; Baldwin has such an expressive face that not much extra is needed to render it unique.

Pencil, gel pen, Daler Rowney inks, Paul Jackson watercolors, white gesso, Uniball pen, white gel pen, on 140-lb. Fluid watercolor paper (my order from Dick Blick showed up, yay!), 9x12 inches (clipped a little by the scanner).