We Are All Hard and Soft

We Are All Hard And Soft

"We Are All Hard and Soft" - oil on Yupo, 12 x 17.  (click on the image to purchase)


​“The hard things break. The soft things bend. The stubborn ones batter themselves against all that is immovable. The flexible adapt to what is before them. Of course, we are all hard and soft, stubborn and flexible, and so we all break until we learn to bend and are battered until we accept what is before us. ― MARK NEPO, The Book of Awakening

it's an oft repeated theme with Nepo, this ​breaking until we learn to bend.  And with good reason.  Many of us (me! me!) are hard-headed stubborn types.  It takes a lot of repetition for wisdom to get through to the soft insides.  

Perhaps that's what intrigues me about this series of ballgown-bots - they are hard and soft.  Of course, the hard portion is the head.  The thoughts are steadfastly guarded with impenetrable helmets and shatter-proof orbs.  Hard even as the soft whisper of fabric flows around the rest of the body.  Fabric and fashion as a reminder to bend and accept.  Methinks I need a fancy dress. :)

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About the art: at this point, I have hundreds of inspiration images for this series of ballgown-bots.  It becomes easier to see what poses, fabrics, colors and compositions grab my attention - like this one, which I loved immediately.  Beginning with unprimed Yupo, I sketched the rough outline of the figure and painted the first wash of the background first.  Building layers on the figure, then carving into wet paint with a rubber wedge to "draw" the pleats and folds of the fabric.  Rubbing away paint in highlight areas and to expose the now stained Yupo.  More layers to the background to deepen the darks.  After several days of drying time, a thinned layer of white applied with a large rubber wedge in a circular pattern to soften the "poufs" and give weightlessness to the fabric trim.  If only I could wave a paint-laden wedge over my wardrobe...