Made for Gentler Things

Made For Gentler Things
oil on cradled wood panel
12 x 12 x .75 inches
This item is unframed but ready to hang.

i had become so accustomed
to carrying the sword
that I for got my hands were made
for gentler things

for wildflowers
for poetry
for reaching
instead of defending

and maybe
that is what safety is

remembering
who you were
before the battle
- SOPHIA BRAY

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Do any of you feel like you have been carrying the sword ?

Whether we are fighting the monsters on the outside, in the world, or tackling those we carry within, it can become such a habit to be hypervigilant that we forget how to put the damn sword down. Our hands form into permanent grips; they have to be coaxed into relaxing so we can trail them through the water, hold them out of the car window to surf the wind.

Who were we before the battle? Light of heart, curiosity-filled, poetic and reaching. Perhaps singing in the shower, dancing in the moonlight, scribbling silliness and thoughts in notebooks.

​Our hands were made for gentler things.

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About the art:  I've begun experimenting with a new gesso. Michael Harding Non Absorbent Acrylic Primer in Raw SIenna Dark.  After reading about the difference this primer would make in the depth of color of the paint layers, I had to see if it was true. And, it IS! Check out the background on this piece. I would generally use many layers of oil paint to get such deep darks. But this primer makes the very first coat SING! 

As per my usual method, I roughed in the sketch, painted a layer of background paint to refine the sketch and let it dry. Layers on the face and neck; more drying time. A detail brush for the features, a first coat on the wing, the hair and the clothing. More drying. Additional layers on the wing and clothing, a small wash over the background. Finally, a thick imposto layer for the hair using a palette knife. A couple weeks to dry and then the varnish. Voila!

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