Sorrow is the True Wild

"Sorrow is the True Wild" - oil on Yupo, 17 x 24.  Available here and at Artfinder.

Is sorrow the true wild?
And if it is -and if we join them - your wild to mine - what's that?
For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation.
What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying.
I'm saying: What if that is joy?
- ROSS GAY, The Book of Delights​

We leave Alice exploring in the background for a bit as we dive into the wild-er-ness.  Wilder than Alice?  Oh, indeed.

This month, mixed-media mosaic artist Helaine Abramson and I explore wolves, women and art in A Song For The Hunted.  When creating a show like this, there are a lot of things that end up on the cutting room floor, as they say.

Sorrow is the True Wild

We give ourselves a restricted number of pieces for these shows, but the muse doesn't care for rules or guidelines, so there are stacks of wolves and women who appeared along the way.  And threads of thought and inspiration less explored, like this one - sharing sorrow, joining wilds, creating joy.

If the "wild" is the sorrow and the sorrow is the wolf, then my wolf looms large and feisty behind me.  Hovering, coloring what I see, shadowing.  But that very thing, shared with another, does, indeed create a visceral JOY - a connection unexpected and energetic and healing.  Oh yes. 

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About the art:  for this one, I used myself as a model for the AI bot, uploading my own photo and asking for woman and wolf in a sepia-toned sketch.   Six degrees of separation from my photo later, the bot landed on a series of woman and wolf sketches that had my inner muse beaming.

Beginning with a light wash of  thinned oil paint on Yupo and a very sketchy charcoal sketch, slowly adding varied values.  Carving back through the wet paint with chopstick, rubber wedge, paintbrush handles to create a scratch, sketchy textured feel to the paint.  As always, resisting the urge to overly define, letting the wildness remain.

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We've launched softly this month...little fanfare, a few cheeky adverts.  We are so incredibly grateful for the hundreds of you who have already stopped in on opening weekend, left comments on Facebook and Instagram, sent emails and encouragement.

The show is open through July 31.  Pop in as often as you'd like!  And who knows?  One (or more!) visitors and commenters this month may win a little something from us. Woot!  Or should we say "awoooooooooooooo"?