And Then There Are Days...

when I feel like the world is this. Just waiting for the faceless person, barely in control, to either lose their grip or deliberately let loose. I was in a good mood, but this is what came out in a rush on December 26th when I was alone with my pastels in the garage.

I didn’t think about it much when drawing it, but I think the cardinal is meant to indicate North Carolina. Recent events here involving extremists and white supremacists deeply disturb me. I recently saw some of the photos from Alabama in the ‘60s, involving police dogs… In this piece, though, the dog is meant to be people, or their barely contained (and unevenly policed) hostility.

SEVERAL WEEKS LATER: I realized one evening, when I wasn’t even thinking about this image, that it has a second and possibly stronger interpretation for me. The cardinal indicates this is about my heart, and the dog is my fears, barely contained, and allowed to block my progress to the top of the hill, where the world opens up on the other side.