Serious And Unserious Connections

It’s great to read about positive events, such as nations working together, searching for an end to the war in Ukraine at the NATO Summit; then frustrating to read about the frightening shifts away from democracy in Israel. I spoke with two dear friends in Tel Aviv about it all— they are sad and very, very worried about the internal threats to democracy and the continued advancement of apartheid towards Palestinians. I read a good article about it in the NY Times this morning, Thomas Friedman’s opinion piece, The US Reassessment of Netanyahu’s Government Has Begun. Biden will meet with Israel’s President Isaac Herzog next week, when he delivers an address to a joint Congress on the 19th.

When I spoke with one Israeli friend on the phone this afternoon, she said she protests in the streets almost daily because she can’t stand to watch her country become something she doesn’t recognize. We discussed how easy it could be to wake up one day and see your democracy gone. I told her the US came perilously close, she knows that. We still also are at risk.

I can’t draw about this situation, it’s too complicated and I don’t know enough. But I can do something like this. Which doesn’t add much, but it’s something.

On another, unserious note, some of you commented and asked about the video drawing I did this morning. At one end of my studio, I have left a wall intentionally blank. About a week ago, I put some paper there. I sometimes have a craving to draw big and this morning it was great because the paper was there, waiting for me.

From a basket, I grabbed a brush that wasn’t all stiff, got the black acrylic paint and just went at it. Had no idea what I was going to draw, except that it would be non-human.

The brush was funky, the paint needed water, but I didn’t care.

These live drawings are about the experience of it. In the one from this morning, I liked how the resulting video was almost abstract, the camera moving around and the black thick lines moving as they were made and as the camera followed them. Sometimes I was so caught up in the drawing and the paint and the brush, that I forgot I had to keep the viewer involved with the activity of the brush. You were experiencing it with me. And neither of us knew what the result would be.

I feel the internet is so full of words and highly crafted images. Having you all here makes it less impersonal, and I feel emboldened to play with different approaches, experiementing with what I know how to do. I just want to MAKE. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. Maybe it hits a nerve for you to a personal thought or story, it perhaps can make you want to go make something. Maybe it is a moment of calm, watching someone’s hand make something. And the sounds, as well— so often we don’t notice the quiet sounds of a brush hitting paper.

If you didn’t see the video, here it is again. Below is the same video sped up.

Happy Wednesday!