Watching the news makes my blood pressure soar and turns my stomach inside out and upside down. As a creative I tend to get pretty emotional. Born in the late 50's I grew up seeing protests against the war and social injustice. Heck I even went to a "Sit in" held at my high school. So the current unrest has me wondering why we didn't "Change the World" like my generation claimed it was going to do. A few years ago my youngest son went off to college. I decided to look up my past love, painting. Something I planned to make a living at but my life took a totally different direction. I was doing art fairs and shows for a few years then got cancer. One of the most unusual kinds that no one talks about or holds marathons for. Vaginal cancer shhhh! I live in Florida in a small town close to the City of Live Mermaids. So I decided to adopt mermaids as my alter ego. I painted my whole journey from the first day I heard those horrible words"You have cancer" to my recovery. I was featured in the local paper and sold all of my exhibit "A Mermaid's tale" My mermaids are not typical rock sitting beauties looking out longingly at the sea. They tend to reflex my current state of mind. Of course because I was taught that art had to have "inner meaning" you need to look close. Nothing is on the surface. My offering in this article is "Pretty Bird" 10" x 20" oil on linen panel. The Mermaid looks wistfully at a parrot fish in a bird cage. I wanted to convey a moment of sadness I was feeling about being quarantined amidst the social unrest in our country. Am I the parrot fish, or the mermaid......maybe both. I believe we are so beautiful yet trapped by those who can't see it.
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Pretty Bird
