Thursday 23 February 2017

More faces and something to think about

I have some more faces to share with you, although I'm not posting them for the 29 faces challenge anymore. So I'm not really counting how many I make, I'm just drawing and painting really :-).

Here's a watercolour with a really bad hairdo :-D


Let me explain. Since I don't have time to post on my blog every day, I post my faces in the 29-faces-Facebook-group. After I posted my roadmap-spread with the 7 faces and an excerpt from the poem by Warsan Shire about refugees, I got the request to refrain from making "political posts".

This is the spread:


Although I had been expecting something like this (after all, every artist who has been speaking out on social media against Trump has been attacked one way or another) I was a bit shocked. For me, this was not a political post. This quote is about suffering and trying to understand what it must be like to have to flee your country. When I use quotes in my art (which is more often than not) I like to use quotes that speak to me and that make people think. The fact that someone finds this offensive enough to ask me not to post it makes me sad, and very afraid for what this presidency is doing to the world and to the minds of people. Had I posted this two years ago I'm sure no one would even be bothered by it.

That being said, I got really positive and heartwarming comments on this spread in the FB-group. So I didn't want to stir up bad feelings and just put a short message in the comments-section of this picture that I wouldn't be posting in 29 faces anymore because some were uncomfortable with it. Today I wanted to read some of the comments again, and found out my picture was removed from the group...

Well, that rather pissed me off....

And it made me decide that, even though 29 faces has been my favorite challenge over the years, and I have been participating since the beginning in 2012, I won't be participating anymore in the future.

A lot of people are tired of talking about politics. They just want to get back to "normal life" and ignore what's going on. Fair enough. It is so easy to look away, especially when (you think) you're not the one being affected by what happens. But just think about this: one of the bills that asshole just signed is about allowing to dump mining waste into the water. Dump mining waste into the water....

* Think about it *

And then there's a video of it where he's bragging about signing it and all these people are standing around him smiling and beaming and applauding. And I think: WTF!? What a bunch of immoral, irresponsible, selfish bastards! And here's what I don't get: why isn't the whole world speaking out against this? Why are so many people quiet about it? Why do they want to ignore what's going on? Why do they think this is all right? How can they not be outraged? And what the hell gives them the right to criticize people who do speak out?

I will not stay quiet. With every outrageous thing that he does, every ridiculous law that he signs, I will speak out. Sometimes in words, sometimes in my art, but I will not be silenced. And if my actions result in just one person starting to think about what's happening instead of ignoring it, I will be happy. In this time and age we won't be able to escape responsibility for what happens by saying: "Wir haben es nicht gewusst"(we didn't know), as so many "normal" Germans were saying at the end of WW2. Everyone knows, even if you choose to look away. At least I will be able to look my children and grandchildren in the eyes and say I resisted with all I could.

Okay, I'll get of my high chair now ... ;-)

For those of you who are still with me, here are some more faces :-)

Another sketch:


And two more map-spreads:



That's it for now. I will be linking to Paint Party Friday. Hop on over there for some great art and inspiration!

Finishing with some funnies:










And then some to think about ....




Thanks for staying with me till the end :-) I hope your day is beautiful, and that your weekend will be filled with kindness. See you next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Thursday 16 February 2017

Faces faces faces

I had forgotten how the 29 faces challenge tends to overtake my life. While I find it do-able to make some art every day, actually finishing a new piece every day is pretty much impossible for me to do for longer than 1 month. We're over halfway now and I know I'll breathe a sigh of relief when it's finished, but at the same time I know months like these give me lots of new stuff to work with. Which is why I do it.

So on we go! Here are the faces from the last 7 days:

Face #10: markers

Face #11: sketch

Face #12: another roadmap-face, with an excerpt from this beautiful poem about refugees called "Home" by Warsan Shire


Face #13: marker and graphite

Face #14: watercolour


Faces #15 and #16 (and maybe # 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 too!): found a lot of smaller faces in my roadmap-journal, I will count these now as 2 faces, but if I get behind in the following days I might count them all as a separate face ;-)
Another excerpt from that same poem by Warsan Shire, because they reminded me of refugees ....


That's it for this week! Linking to Paint Party Friday and to 29 faces. Hop on over there to see some great work!

I hope you're having a great day! Thanks so much for your visit! I'll finish with some funnies :-)






And some to think about ....





Enjoy your weekend! I'll be back next week ♥ ♥ ♥

Thursday 9 February 2017

New painting: Heal the world

In the midst of painting faces for the 29 faces challenge, I finished my painting! There are two faces on there, so they count for two days :-).

I started this painting a long time ago, but never got around to working out the ideas I had for the background.


While I was working on it, I wasn't sure about the dark background, but it kinda grew on me, and I think it makes the colours pop. So I'm happy :-)


I call it "Heal the world", because it just feels like that for me. I notice that lately I feel the need to make paintings where people live in harmony with nature and animals. I am so saddened by what we are doing to our beautiful planet and to the animals in it, and my paintings are sort of a tribute to all I love about nature. Bringing some kindness to the world in these sad and upsetting times. I reserve my raw feelings of anger and worry and resistance for my artjournal pages and my Facebookposts :-)

This is not an intuitive painting, so not so many steps to show here, but here are some pics from start to finish:

 using up leftover paint and trying out some things with drips

 stamps, sprays and lots of colour

 lightening it up a bit, because I already know I want to put a dark colour in the background.

 drawing my figures and starting to paint the negative space

mix of Payne's Grey and Phtalo Blue

And here it is finished:


I didn't post my faces for the 29 faces challenge on my blog every day. Not enough time for that, so here they are from last week:

Face #3: black ink on a map


Face #4: watercolour and marker


Face #5: found image in a map


Face #6: another watercolour and marker


Face#7: the first face from my painting


Face #8: another "found map-face"


And #9: the second face from my painting:


I managed to paint every day, but boy, I'm way behind with other things now! Guess by the time I finish this challenge I'll be up to my ears in administration and paperwork .... Oh well ...

Linking this to 29 faces challenge and to Paint Party Friday. Join in if you want, it's fun, and there's so much to see and admire in both of them!

Ending with some funnies :-)









And some to think about ....

 



That's it for this week! Thanks for being here, I really appreciate your visits and comments. I hope your day is going well, and that your weekend will be filled with kindness.
I'll be back next week ♥ ♥ ♥