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.)

I Am Sassa

 I made the discovery on Facebook of an artist in, as she puts it on her website, "West by god Virginia," who has taken on an immense challenge. The day after Ruth Bader Ginsberg died, she was feeling low so she picked up her brushes and painted a portrait of the icon while listening to podcasts about her life. It made her feel so much better that she decided a big commitment was in order, so she thought, since there were exactly 100 days left until the end of the year, that she would challenge herself to paint a portrait a day! They are all "badass women," known for their accomplishments, their diplomacy, their artistry, including inventors, innovators, politicians, scientists, musicians, a little of everything.

Since she started the project she has received not only a lot of attention (including local television coverage) but a lot of suggestions for whom to include in the array, some with complete histories of their lives and accomplishments. She is keeping it spontaneous by choosing each morning who she will paint that day, and the paintings take from three to more than 12 hours apiece to complete, depending on their complexity, all while trying to live the rest of her life on the side. I have immense respect for this 39-year-old painter! (I often wonder what would have happened had I kept painting at 19 instead of deserting it until I was 45. This is a good example...)

I've been following the project and have had some online interaction with her, and I decided yesterday that she deserved to have her own portrait painted. So here is Sassa, another badass woman for the gallery.

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

Partners

 Today I decided that my farmer needed a wife, so I went looking for the quintessential woman for the job. I eventually decided on this one partly for the faraway look in her eyes that are used to looking out across fields, and partly because she has a sun bonnet like Grandmother Allie used to wear. Also like Allie, she has on one of those house dresses washed so many times that the flower pattern has faded to a vague white figure, and an apron with capacious pockets (not included here) to carry around such things as shears or rose pruners or a small trowel—whatever is needed for the job at hand.

I called this "partners" rather than spouses because farmers, male and female, are by necessity closer partners in their work than most urban or suburban couples, given that they both depend on the same thing for their livelihood. Although they may have tasks traditionally defined by gender, both are usually capable of doing any of their partner's tasks interchangeably, from hoeing a field to driving a tractor to milking a cow to cooking a pot of black-eyed peas.

This one was harder to paint than was her male counterpart. It seemed obvious that his face would be weathered and colored by the weather, but she with her bonnet would be paler and more protected, so the colors are softer and less defined. She also should have had a heavier shadow on the top half of her face from the shielding bonnet, but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it! I tried to repeat enough of the colors I used on him, albeit in diluted form, so that the two portraits could be hung together. I think it worked...?

Pencil, Daler Rowney acrylic FW inks, watercolor, black Uniball Vision pen, white gel pen, on 140-lb. Fluid watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.

Angela again

 I painted Angela Davis's portrait once before, but that was when I was still striving for realism, so I decided to paint her again in my new style. I wanted it to be a sort of companion piece to James Baldwin, but not in the same colors I used for him, so I studied photos of her and decided on a color combination of yellow, orange, and purple. It wasn't that she ever dressed in those bright colors—quite the contrary, she seems to favor grays and greens—but that I saw something bright in her face that asked for them.

I went farther than I had planned with the hair treatment, and I really wish I had stopped where my first impulse said to, where it was more indicated and less specific. Her eyes are larger than in life, but that goes along with the new methods; I'm hoping that in this case it didn't render her less recognizable. Anyway, I guess the quote will take care of that, even if the likeness isn't perfect.

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

Back to basics

 I wanted to paint something tonight, but I wasn't led in any particular direction. Lots of people on my class site have been doing Inktober, which I avoid because I don't like just drawing in ink, I want to do full paintings, mostly, and also I never "feel" the prompts they offer. But I have to admit that I've been liking some of the more spare ink drawings I've been seeing, so tonight I decided to do a combination of pattern, spatter, and random line and let it all dictate a face for me. (I also didn't want to stay up until 2:00 a.m.!)

This is sort of going back to basics with what Deb Weiers teaches, with a combination of random background and blind contour drawing. I didn't do this one blind, but I did let the location of the lines and circles dictate the face. I also started drawing the connectors with my Uniball, but it was just too "civilized" next to the random stuff, so I drew the rest by dipping the wooden end of my brush in the ink and scrawling/scribbling with it. I had fun!

The red stuff at the top was an experiment that didn't work out very well. I had a piece of packing material that was a sort of diamond-patterned styrofoam-like webbing, and I thought it would be brilliant for texture to tape it down and paint through the holes; but because it's thick and bouncy, the ink connected with the material but not with the paper and didn't give a nice clean pattern. So I threw in some circles and shapes and outlined them to accentuate the red a little more.

Her name is Sukie, and her attention span is, shall we say, fluid at the moment...

Daler Rowney inks, India ink, gel pen, on Fluid 140-lb. watercolor paper, approx. 9x12 inches.

Stand

 Malcolm X said "A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything." While he is not a specific hero of mine, and while I disagreed with a lot of his methods (and his religion), I believe Malcolm Little (his original name, ironically, considering the stature he achieved) was one of those who was willing to stand. To stand up, to stand firm, to stand for something when others would not. I came across that quote and it resonated, considering the two-faced duplicity and constant fickle changeability of more than half of our politicians at this present moment in history.

I believe we all need to decide where we stand and with whom, and take up that charge with seriousness and consistency, or we are all in danger of falling. The MAGA contingent has already done so, for a shyster who has stolen their money and their good will for his own benefit and given back nothing but false pride in a nonexistent superiority that only increases their hatred. Let us see their example, mind Malcolm's words, and find a different ground to stand on.

Gel pen, pencil, Daler Rowney inks, gesso, Paul Jackson watercolors, Uniball pen, white Signo gel pen, on Fluid 140-lb. watercolor paper, 9x12.