Last week I posted what I thought was a lovely self portrait of me as a Selkie (half-woman, half-seal) but someone out there thought it was offensive. I don't see what's wrong with it. So I rescanned the image and have posted it back here. I find it funny. It's me laughing a little at myself and it also says a lot about what I think about myself. So I am fat, no big deal, and I'm not naked in this portrait, I'm fluffy full of white baby seal fur. I pictured myself as a young seal, not yet fully grown, but definitely not a baby. I'm sunning myself, totally content, on the snow, without a care in the world. I don't care what I look like, I only care about how I feel.
Those of you who may remember, many months ago I posted a pencil drawing of Grimalkin as I would imagine her in the '80s wearing a raspberry beret. But there was something missing, so I never completed the drawing. Over the last few days, I was drawn back to this piece. I began to see a story. I also realized that the raspberry beret needed a bit of "umph!" to it, a bit more fluff and fanfare. But then I began to see Melusine with Grimie. The two of them are in a heated discussion about fashion or shopping, something related to that, not quite sure, it seems to be a private conversation. In this drawing you can clearly see the size difference between Grimalkin and Melusine. Mel is much taller, Grimie much smaller. She's almost a dwarf, really, and often when she is in human form she seems very child-like. In the bottom left hand corner you will see Grimalkin in her cat form. When I began to draw the cat, I realized there was even more to the story in this picture. I believe it's Melusine with Grimie the Cat talking in front of a mirror. Melusine is showing Grimalkin what she should wear? You be the judge.
Another drawing of Grimalkin, only this time she's knitting with her feline friends. When I originally posted this drawing, it wasn't quite finished. It needed a few more cats and Grimie's knitting hands needed to be in correct porportion. Thanks to Miya for the tips! This is one for you.
The next three images are updates or revisions (what would be the proper term for a painting you come back to after fifteen years and you re-do it?) of a series of paintings about a fairy godmother. It was going to be the start of a graphic novel, but I lacked the maturity and confidence to finish it. This was back in 1993. After I did a quick re-organizing of my portfolios, I felt the urge to not let these images fade into the obscurity of my upstairs closet. I cut them out of the original text and added a few new touches of paint. I think they stand alone very nicely. Do you agree?
One other note: while I was in the middle of this entry, the alarms went off in the university library. I had to pack up quick and wait for a full forty minutes outside. Turned out to be a false alarm. But for a moment, it felt surreal, made me remember it's 9/11 and I got a bit sad, then I got angry because I just knew it was a false alarm. I wondered if someone was trying to make a point? As I stood outside with the other students and faculty and watched the fire trucks and emergency personnel slowly leave, I was grateful but anxious to get back to normalcy. I think that's what I hate most about terrorism, wars, protests, strikes, etc., is that it disrupts things for those of us who are innocent bystanders. The other day I was talking with a friend and she was so frustrated that she, like many of us, wished to blow some buildings up, but I told her that even a grossly horrible act would ultimately be useless. I told her she wouldn't do it anyway, not because she didn't have the nerve, but because I said, "You're Batman, not the Joker. The Joker wouldn't care about harming innocents. Batman cares. His sense of justice is stronger than his desire to exact revenge. The Joker's desire to destruct is stronger than his need for attention. Yeah. Be Batman, not the Joker."
Maybe, folks, that's the answer. Be Batman.
portraits
