Weary of Captivity

​"Weary of Captivity" - oil on cradled wood panel, 18 x 24 x 1.5 inches.  
​This item is unframed but ready to hang. (click on the image to purchase)


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Weary of Captivity

If Adam Picked the Apple
There would be a parade,
a celebration,
a holiday to commemorate
the day he sought enlightenment.
We would not speak of
temptation by the devil, rather,
we would laud Adam’s curiosity,
his desire for adventure
and knowing.
We would feast
on apple-inspired fare:
tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies.
There would be plays and songs
reenacting his courage.


But it was Eve who grew bored,
weary of her captivity in Eden.
And a woman’s desire
for freedom is rarely a cause
for celebration.  - Danielle Coffyn
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Try as I may, I cannot stop the world at large from encroaching on my peace of mind.  And perhaps that peace should be disturbed given, well, everything.

The number of women (and, honestly, men of reason and knowledge and general humanness) who are raising their voices, eyebrows and hands over the growing marginalizing of females (not just females, no no no!  But women are my focus here today) is a growing cacophony to which I add my own voice and art.  

I have been learning to fully experience and express the grief of my own experiences recently, and serendipitously it is not just my own personal grief now, but the world at large.  And it is more than grief - there is a simmering cauldron of anger.

I don't have the answers.  Just a growing sense of unease and concern.  And a willingness to be there for anyone who needs/wants to commiserate.

For the past year, as I process my own experiences I've been increasingly drawn to create ballgown-bots.  Largely faceless, masked cyborgian females with fancy garb.   At first they were cheeky, haunting, peculiar.  But now they have taken on a larger, societal meaning and a mission of their own.  Are they faceless because they are afraid and unseen?  Or because they are armored and shielded?

And so I am wondering - what do they mean to you, dear readers?

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About the art:  this is a paint-over (oil over oil) of an existing piece, which adds a lovely depth of color and texture.  On a recent playdate with the AI bot, I wrote "pink backpack" and let it run.  There were many, many delightfully cheeky monsters and odd humans with backpacks of all sizes.  The whole session left me grinning!   One of them was more of a mash-up of victorian schoolgirl and cyberpunk ballgown-bot, which inspired this piece.  The goal here was the lovely limited palette and high contrast with loose, painterly brushstrokes.  

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The December Reader Giveaway begins today!  Leave a comment on any blog post this month to be automatically entered.  One (or more) lucky commenters will receive an original piece of art in the mail - free!