more daughter's hope

I wanted to explain the title I chose for this piece that I just finished and submitted to the Third Annual Art Bra Show in Sacramento. It's called "A Daughter's Hope" and I've created it to honor my friend Monique who is fighting breast cancer and her five-year-old daughter.

While I was searching for the right bra to fit my vision, I discovered that the bra that worked with the small canvas I wanted to use would be a young girl’s bra, which bothered me; I didn’t want to associate breast cancer with one so young. Then it hit me, breast cancer already was associated with one even younger: Monique’s five-year-old daughter.



I wanted the piece to reflect Monique and her experience, the way she is handling this challenge, so I decided to focus on hope, specifically hope for a cure and hope for a future with her daughter. I paired the bra with an image expressing light and hope and let the rest of the piece come together in the same organic process I generally use for my work.



Finally I added a part of Monique’s faith to the work with a verse from Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I pray that Monique, and others like her, will hold onto hope and win this fight and that they all will live to have a future with their daughters and sons.

a daughter's hope

Not very long ago Monique, a young friend (i.e., younger than me,) found out she has an aggressive form of breast cancer - it was a shock for all of us - she has a five-year-old daughter and the thought of a missed life together was frightening. Monique is a fighter and a believer and she has been undergoing chemotherapy, has lost her hair (which we all know will grow back) and the tumor is shrinking, which we are all thankful for. Throughout it all Monique has been an example of a saint, keeping her faith in God and her good humor in full view - she really cracks me up sometimes!



A local women's group called the Women's Wisdom Project is sponsoring their third annual Art Bra Show to promote breast cancer awareness, exhibited this year at the Twentieth Street Gallery, and I knew I had to participate in honor of Monique and the battle she is facing.



I wasn't sure at first how I would incorporate a bra into a piece of my artwork & be able to stay faithful to my style but I figured a bra could be part of the landscape somehow so I just started at it - so far I think it's going pretty well -



My biggest challenge at the moment is the September 1st deadline - this also is the start of a new semester at the college where I teach & we've taken in a rescue dog to foster - not to mention the other deadlines & commitments I have going - oh well, I guess it's true that where there's a will, there's a way -

I'll post more later about why I've called this piece "A Daughter's Hope."

life and death

While out walking the dog last night I was thinking about a series of pieces I want to do - something a bit different with wood boxes and found items. I've already collected a few things that are too large to glue to a canvas and I was getting a picture in my head of these pieces when I found a baby bird on the sidewalk, dead from an apparent fall from a nest.



This may seem a little odd, but I immediately thought, "This could be one of my found items!"

Then Reason spoke up, "Are you crazy? Dead rotting bird is not art!"

"Well, maybe I could figure something out..."

"Uh - no, I don't think so."

I started to pick up the dead bird with a convenient plastic bag I always keep on hand while walking the dog, then started to walk away, then turned back, said hello to the guy jogging by with his dog and made the decision. Yep, I'm going to see what I can do with the dead bird.



I put the little bird in the side yard in a clay saucer, with another one inverted over it, to keep big things from carrying it off & started to try to figure out what to do...



First step was internet research, seems there's actually things like "DIY taxidermy" which I read about & even looked carefully at how to photos, but it just didn't seem like something I could bring myself to do, especially when I saw the photos of the home-stuffed mouse. (It's one thing when a pro does it, but this was something else. Really.) Then I read about how to cut up a bird and store the pieces in cornmeal until the separate parts mummify, which still makes me think maybe that would work on the little bird without any cutting necessary. Finally I read about freeze drying, which would probably work best, but I think it's probably been out too long for that to work long-term.



So today I took photos, to at least preserve the memory, I'd already been meaning to photograph a couple bird's nests that I had found, to use in my mixed media pieces. I'll leave Baby Bird to the ways of nature and if I'm lucky I hope I'll have a skeleton for a box at some time in the future...

more sketching

Working on sketches for a couple things in process -

For a commission with a vernal pool image...



And a couple seagulls to accompany beach images...