Valentines 2009

I have made hand-drawn valentines over the past 30+ years.  Here are some from this year's batch:

                                         

This one is called, "An Evolution of Character".  Or alternatively, "Aging".  The heart on the far left--the eldest--is by far the most interesting, don't you think?

This one is titled "Self and Other".  My daughter-in-law is a microbiologist.  Her research is with bacteria.  These organisms have the ability to recognize other bacteria as being like themselves or unlike themselves.  This process protects the cohesion of the like community.  Do they determine self and other through direct physical contact or through chemical signals?  This is, as I understand it, central to what Karine is working to determine.

Life and love is complicated and messy.  And beautiful.  This one is called "Love Tangle".    I really enjoyed using my new 6XO Rapidograph pen.

                       

 "Brainy  Heart"

Besides Rapidograph pens, also colored drawing ink.

"Prickly Heart"

(for those hard to handle Valentines) Here's to the imperfections of love!

"Color Blind Heart"

Just pencil and watercolor. For those of you who can't see this one, I'm sorry.  I hope you enjoy the others. 

Make valentines!  Make love!

Why Self-Portrait with Assumption

In 1979, I sat transfixed by Titian's Assumption of the Virgin, the altarpiece in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice.  I sketched it from a pew and later tacked the postcard image onto my studio wall.  In 1981, this pastel self-portrait led me to understand my deep connection to this image.  Mary reaches up into the Godly realm.  She connects earth and heaven, worldly pursuits and the spiritual.  I, with my arms reaching downward to the drawing-in-progress, realize my own transcendence.  This is what art-making is for me:  a vechicle to discover myself, my world, and glimmers of the divine.