UGLY

 For perhaps the first time in my "career" as a painter, I purposely painted something ugly. I'm not just talking about the images, although they are pretty bad, but the caption, and the thought and intention that went into it. And right now, I'm not sorry.

I may regret it later. But tonight I felt the need for a political statement. Tonight I felt the need to say, Okay, in 2016 it could have been a mistake, a misunderstanding of who he is, or else "anyone but Hillary" syndrome. But after four years of misogyny, racist hatred and bigotry, after his disrespecting everyone from the handicapped to the soldiers in our military, after four years of watching him encourage the absolute worst qualities of humanity in everyone surrounding and following him, after the cheating, the stealing, the compulsive and continuous lying, the complete lack of any redeeming virtue or feeling, and the total and complete neglect of an entire country at risk of death or permanent damage from a pandemic the likes of which we have never seen, THEY STILL CHOSE HIM. They actually chose more. They said, Keep it up, we like it, we approve.

And we who were desperate to be rid of him, we who worked for years to get out the vote to purge him and his kind from our government and yes, please, our country, and from our sight and from our minds, we who hold values and ethics and each other dear, have to come to terms with the fact that 50 percent of our country, 50 percent of the so-called United States population (what a joke) would rather keep him, for the simple reason that they believe (erroneously) that he will help them hang onto their money.

That's what it comes down to. Money, and clusters of not-yet-sentient cells in women's wombs. Never mind the people being evicted by the landlords of the apartment buildings his son owns, because they can't pay because they have no work because he let the pandemic get out of control and shut down the economy. Never mind the hundreds of immigrant children whose parents can't be found and who will probably live out their lives with strangers, heartbroken. Never mind those of us who are about to lose both our health care and our Social Security. Never mind the willful continued destruction of the environment and the blatant alienation of every other nation on earth. Never mind all that. Save the fetus, save the 401K. That was their rallying cry.

So here they are, in all their ugly glory. These are the people with whom we are supposed to make common cause to put the United States back together, once this endless counting process is over and Joe Biden is, Jesus willing, our new president.

You know, I just don't see that happening.

Pencil, gray gel pen, Daler Rowney inks, watercolor, silver Lumin/Arte paint, white gel pen, Uniball Vision pen, 9x12 inches on Fluid watercolor paper.

Lisa smiles

 My very first portrait in Deb Weiers's class was of my friend Lisa. It was exceedingly wonky, because I did it as instructed, as a blind contour. Although I really liked the way it turned out from an objective standpoint, it wasn't very flattering to Lisa; so tonight when I saw a photo of her that I had saved, relaxed and smiling while surrounded by her family, I decided to do a portrait that, while using some wild colors and some interesting textures, was still fairly realistic as regards likeness.

I think I mostly pulled it off, although the chin and jawline are perhaps a little heavy. But she was smiling ear to ear and I wanted to convey that sense of joy.

Daler Rowney inks, pencil, white gesso, Uniball pen, white gel pen, India ink, on Fluid 140-lb. watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.

(Here is the original, blind contour portrait.)