Paintings
Paintings
Ghost Dog
watercolor, alcohol ink, and pastel on wood panel, 13”x13”
Golem and Her Guard Dog
Acrylic paint and pastel on wood panel.
2'x2'x2"
This painting is a few things. It's a protection amulet; a sheild of self-preservation against myself.
It's a reimagination of the Jewish folk tale of the Golem, a strong protector sculpted out of mud. Imbued with purpose by the carving of a single word into its soft clay head; 'truth'. But I was thinking how my own mind, full of soft clay, struggles with truth. Perception of being protector and protected can make my head hot and make me sweat and cry, knowing deep I am neither. Recognizing the fragility of the mud that we call our bodies and our hearts. How easy it is to track footprints through it all and also how it's also just as easy for them to wash away.
So the Golem, she turns to her dog and she carves her own symbol of purpose into their head. Here, the א stands for אהבה, love. Love can not protect you, and it can not be protected. It just stays with you. Lingers even when it's gone. Her little dog guards everything nobody wants from her. Fights for her wholeness, especially the stuff outside her 'purpose'.
This painting is a banner of appreciation for animals and mud.
And as I've been finishing this painting I've been having some ~complicated~ feelings of a self-destructive varity. Something in me tells me my Dad had a similar affliction. I don't have any proof of this it's just a feeling. So I scooped the truth out of the Golems head and painted his saphire ring. It's pictured in the third slide and I don't think anyone I know even knows what used to be embossed into the face. It's just lumpy gold and floaty stones now. I don't really know my Dad but everything I pull from the non truth of my memories is precious to me.
Made of Dust acrylic and oil pastel on wood panel, 12"x9"
Up All Night Till the Broth is Done acrylic and colored pencil on wood panel, 9"x12"