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“Every time I have had a problem, I have confronted it with the ax of art.”
- Yayoi Kusama |
| | | Tomorrow is the beginning of my least favorite season. Tomorrow is also one of my favorite days of the year.
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|  | (“Return,” Digital, Procreate) |
| Here in my hemisphere it’s almost Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Soon the light returns! Sure, the change is slow and subtle, but I take immense comfort in the fact that things won’t/can’t get any darker while I freeze my grumpy ass off.
Because this day holds so much meaning for me and a lot of other people, I’ve wanted to illustrate it for a few years now.
While I was envisioning what to draw, I knew I wanted a figure in child’s pose. This stance always symbolizes surrender to me, but in the best way. It’s the form I take on when I’m completely overwhelmed. It’s grounding.
I also chose to use a limited color palette as I often do when illustrating. I think in this case it’s fitting as the cold season often feels so barren. Limiting oneself in this way brings about questions and little puzzles along the way. For instance, can white be used to communicate both cold and warmth? Sure. At least nature seems to think so. |
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RETURN
it’s the caress of the river i miss and the kiss of the sun
the bounty of bouquets she grew when i knew she loved me
she says she’ll return and i know now it is safe
to believe
while i wait for her to rise i will not cease but rest
still
a tiny flicker in me burns the light always returns
- dolly
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| | |  | | … wins the race… but I ain’t racing. |
|  | (About 10 hours in so far I think.) |
| I took a nice little break from painting, but recently felt eager to return to this piece I started last month. I’m planning on entering this one into a show in February so I don’t feel particularly rushed and that feels very nice. I’m not sure what I’m doing with the background so that will be a little challenge. (I can’t slap solid black on all my backgrounds for all of time, I guess.) I’m sure I’ll be playing around with it during that twilight zone between Christmas and New Year.
I want everything about this piece to be dripping with radiance, and I hope I can accomplish that. |
| | Dolly Paints Dolly….Again |
| Geez, get over yourself, Dolly. Okay, but this is a different Dolly. (Well, maybe not so much.)
I decided the other night after rewatching Rudolph that I wanted to paint a sweet little two sided ornament for myself, inspired by Dolly from the Island of Misfit Toys. Poor little Dolly, not being delivered to a loving home just because she cries sometimes. Maybe some other little misfits can also relate. Anyway, she’s just for me, and I love both sides equally.
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|  | (Side A, Side B. I like to flip her around depending on my daily, sometimes hourly, mood.)
If you were a character from a Christmas movie, who would you be? (Hopefully not Scrooge.) If you’re unsure of who you are, you can always just hang out on misfit island with me.
“True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are. The opposite of belonging isn’t exclusion, it’s ‘fitting in.’” - Brené Brown, Braving the Wilderness |
| | | The Art of Forming Traditions |
| I think one of the greatest joys of adulthood is abandoning traditions/expectations that don’t work for you and replacing them with your own. Over the years I’ve shed the things that didn’t make much sense to me or stressed me out, and I’ve put thought into what easy, fun, meaningful things we can enjoy instead.
While we don’t personally align with many traditions revolving around Jesus or Santa, I manage just fine to create some magic without those two iconic fellas, and have a jolly good time doing so! (I reckon the pagans that started all this managed without them too.) |
|  | (Some Solstice decor prep pics from previous years.) |
| Each Winter Solstice the kids and I make various edible ornaments and string them outside for the critters. Over the following days we enjoy sitting at the window watching the squirrels stuff themselves with their little holiday feast. Of course they polish off the peanut butter cones first and leave the fruit for last. Clearly they understand that this is NOT the season to watch one’s waistline.
(If you decide to do this, please use natural, sugar-free items, and plastic-free thread/twine.) |
| | |  | This year I was able to finish 27 books and unable to finish several others. (I decided a few years ago that life is too short to punish myself into finishing mediocre books.)
These were my favorites this year:
Best Fiction The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides
Best Nonfiction Devotions, The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, Mary Oliver The Mother Artist: Portraits of Ambition, Limitation, and Creativity, Catherine Ricketts Something in the Woods Loves You, Jarod K, Anderson
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Listening
This Little Light
Sick of Christmas music? Try my playlist instead.
Watching
Shrinking, Season 2, Apple TV
Do therapists need therapy? Watch the show and decide for yourself.
Reading
Nightbitch, Rachel Yoder
While I anticipate watching the new movie, starring Amy Adams, based on this novel, I’m enjoying the free audiobook. (Thanks Libby!)
This story is a really raw and sometimes enraged exposé of early motherhood. The author explores the intersection of motherhood and art, the animalism of procreation and child-rearing, and the many ways in which women are denied their personhood. As someone who had an extremely difficult first pregnancy/early mothering experience, I really relate to several parts of this book. I’m not completely finished with it, and I will say that it gets darker and weirder as you proceed, so only proceed if you’re a teeny bit animal. 🐕
Observing
Mary with the Medela, Julie Tuyet Curtiss
I recently came across this piece (pictured below) and found it so moving. I think it’s even more impactful since I’m reading about the literal and metaphorical drain of those early mothering days. The woman here is slumped over, working late, alone. The board has several sticky notes, perhaps reminding her of what still needs to be done. Furthermore, she’s faceless. Similarly, in Nightbitch the protagonist/mother is nameless.
When it comes to art, I am personally almost always more interested in the “why” than the “how” of a piece. I want art that makes me feel something. I’m drawn to storytelling and this piece tells a story.
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|  | (Mary with the Medela, Julie Tuyet Curtiss, Oil and Acrylic on Canvas) |
| |  | How to be cool: Step 1. Learn their lingo. Step 2. Never speak it. |
| | I’m wishing you all safety, support, coziness, and calm this holiday season. Say “no” to something you really don’t want to do so you can say “yes” to something funner!
If you enjoyed this newsletter, I would love for you to reach out, or share it with someone weird or fabulous or weirdly fabulous.
Work in progress, always, dolly
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