The Night Priestess

"The Night Priestess" - mixed media on paper, 22" x 15".  Ready to frame.  Available here and at Artfinder.

So, yep, this piece happened. Unexpectedly (which is the best way) and loosely.  An old start with some inks and gouache, then a free-style charcoal session.  Acrylic to finish.  She appeared unapologetically and decided to stay.  With the swirling winds and constant rain of a tropical storm bearing down on us, The Night Priestess appeared just in time to read the signs and omens.

You know how it is when a tune jumps into your head and hangs around for no apparent reason, right?  With this piece, I hear Sam Cooke, "Change Gonna Come":

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ev'r since
It's been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
​
It is also the waning part of "the season" in SoFlo, with art events tapering off, houses shuttered for the summer and the rains....always the rains.  So change, yep.

But when something is stuck in my head, I generally give it a good investigation.  This song, born in the 1960's, during a time when it was very hard to be black in America, still rings true today.

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin' me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

There has been a rash articles in the news recently about people calling the police just because people are black in a situation.  People telling them "don't hang around."  Could this song really have been written over fifty years ago?  My heart hurts.

But like Sam Cooke's hopeful lyric, there are little glimmers of real connection and understanding in the world as well.  In a recent episode of Queer Eye , the fear of being black in America was handled in a way that could foster real conversations.  It included a heart-opening dialogue between a gay black man and a policeman he was helping, in which they were each able to express honest emotions about the state of things.  After listening (and they made that point, a lot of people talk but don't listen to each other), connections were made and understanding fostered that could, if replicated and multiplied, build bridges of healing and tolerance.

Maybe it is naive of me to find hope in a world that seems in so many ways unchanged over half a century.  But as the song unfolds in my head, I can't help but be lifted up by Cooke's voice and words.

There have been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will