The Shadowed Artist

When I started blogging I promised myself at least 2 postings per month. Sometimes that gets hard, but when it happens and it’s and out there for all to see life becomes a little more satisfying. So, before July closes in six hours or so, here is my second post for this month.

I was always a little nerdy as a teen. I didn’t dare to have my ears pierced or to dye my hair though I secretly envied those who did so. More recently it has been tattoos. I love unique tattoos that tell stories or have a history. A friend, ‘M’, has endless tattoos running up his arms and onto his shoulders. Each of them has a story to tell. Then there is Charles, whose work involves images of crows and dragons. He’s taken it one step further and tattooed his characters onto his arm. I am envious of this life long commitment to art and skin. Another artist who interests me is Rice Freeman-Zachery whose amazing art focuses on journal writing. Not journal writing in the conventional sense but journals woven and stitched onto clothing and quilts and I’m sure her tattoos are part of her life’s journal too.

And there is me. Even as a performance artist in the early to mid 1980’s I was too cowardly to get tattooed, dye my hair or get a piercing. I still am, so what is there left for me to do with my body..?

Shadows!

Here are pictures of me hiding behind some recent silk paper cuts (Cloud). It looks as if I really am Lost in Forest Wild! (which is another recently finished work) The covering of temporary shadows has given me a brief glimpse of what it’d be like to be covered in tattoos. It looks exotic enough right now, but the problem with tattoos is if they can keep their meaning in the future. Luckily for me I can just turn the light off and my shadowed body disappears instantly!