Esme, Self-Liberated

Esme, Self-Liberated

"Esme, Self-Liberated"  - oil on gallery wrapped canvas, 16 x 20 x 1.5  inches.   Ready to hang.   (click on the image to purchase)


​I release you, my beautiful and terrible fear.  I release you.
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You were my beloved and hated twin, but now, I don’t see you as myself.

- FROM FEAR...I GIVE YOU BACK  BY JOY HARJO

Fear.  It can be a motivator, an instigator, an investigator.  It keeps us safe - warns of danger.  But it is also sneaky and takes us hostage, holds us back from growing, learning, leaping, bravely conquering.  It can become the tentacles that bind us; hold us imprisoned.  It can cloud our perception and obscure the truth of things.

And once in a great while, fear can create an infinite loop, making it very difficult to step out of it.  Fear of fear​, which results in anxiety, panic and panic attacks.  It would be funny if it weren't so awful, being afraid of something and then being afraid of the very act of, well,  being afraid of that something.  Maddening! Frustrating! Illogical!  The human brain is both a wonder and a ponder.

So the thing about fear is that you can't dodge it.  You have to look it squarely in the eye, like a bully, or a honey badger (more on that in a future post).  And when you look at it, you're really looking at yourself, or rather a part of yourself.

​As Harjo says so beautifully in She Had Some Horses:  She had some horses she loved. / She had some horses she hated. / These were the same horse.  

Esme has looked herself in the eye and stared down the bully.  I think liberation looks good on her. :)

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There is one more week to enter the March Reader Giveaway!  Leave a comment  - what's YOUR superpower? (see last week's blog post). One lucky commenter will win a piece of original art  - free!  Huzzah!

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About the art:  this piece sits atop a gesso-murdered acrylic painting.  Often, I work from the outside of a piece (a base background) to the inside of a piece (the figure) and back to the outside (background details and blending lines between figure and background).  For this piece, which is more illustrative, I worked from the outside in and the top down. Crisp lines for the basic composition and softer lines for the figure.  Lots of layers of glazing (walnut oil-thinned paint) and drying time between layers.  Esme's head is held high!  Perhaps she is pleased with the final result.