Windows to the Inside
Alleviating Anxiety and Embracing Serenity
Over the next few days, my anxiety over the presidential election here in the United States. will reach various peaks. (For the record, I am rooting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz—despite their support of Israel and its ongoing terrorism—but that is all I want to say about that.)
I am hoping to calm my nerves as election day approaches. I will eat yummy snacks and go on leisurely walks outdoors. I will tend to my garden and play music. I am fine-tuning new songs that my band Ancestral Tongue and I will perform at our annual house show at the French House on December 1.
One important part of my strategy to alleviate the stress is to create art. There is something incredibly calming about making something with my own hands that abides by my aesthetic, emotional, and artistic sensibilities.
I will be gentle with my fears about what the future holds.
Open windows and let the outside in.
Feel the warmth of the sun pouring through and the subtle rush of fresh air.
Feel everything and let go.
INK AND STIPPLING
Instead of my customary color notebook drawings this week, I wanted to showcase some of the ink work I have done that has stayed hidden in storage. These pieces came from a phase in which I was obsessed with stippling. Rather than using lines, broad strokes, and solid sections, I drew these images with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dots.
We often see these birds around our house in the woods. They are magical.
I have long been a fan of geometric shapes and styles, and in that spirit, I conjured this face.
Those of you who are familiar with my earliest works know of my fondness for seahorses.
ABSTRACT FLOWERS
The simplicity, and limitation, of only using pencil on paper is liberating. I am not sure why.
STILL LIFE
A couple of nights ago, I went with some friends back to my alma mater Middle Tennessee State University to attend a vigil for a student named Serenity Birdsong. She died of suicide in the campus library last Monday. She was a trans woman who was the vice-president of the campus student queer organization MTLambda.
Suicide can be triggering for a lot of people, but for me, it stings quite a bit more when it involves someone who is LGBTQ. Queer people often carry trauma that taints so much of their daily lives. Various ingredients such as shame, alienation, depression, and confusion can be connected with the struggle to understand and express one’s evolving gender identity and sexuality. This is magnified by living in a state whose legislature and senators continuously spew out anti-trans lies and hate.
I did not know Serenity or her personal struggles, but I consider her one of my own and a part of my queer community. This was a bigger loss for those of us who live in the queerest margins of the world.
I am sorry, Serenity, for all the ways the world failed you, and I hope you have found peace.
UPCOMING SHOWS FOR FALL 2024:
