Paintings from the Deep Middle

I have been admonished by teachers my whole artistic life to “draw and paint the negative space.” I have a set of quote cards I have made over the years, that I turn to for a regular dose of reminder, and I have a card that says this. It shows up 5 times more often than any other card. I have ignored it for over a year. About a month ago, while taking part in the Akimbo “The Creatives Workshop” (an incredible experience I highly recommend) I finally obeyed. I drew a mess of lines and then painted the negative shapes - the ones between what seemed like things. Another card I have says I should “Paint and draw dark! How dark can it be?” So I did that, too, getting out the black ink and acrylic paint.

Each week since, I have had a few of these paintings roar out of me, from somewhere in the Deep Middle of me, where my deepest hopes and dreams live, but also my unexpressed anxiety and anger about the world, our nation, and our species. I don’t like these, but I love them.

Here are a few more. Warning - these can be shocking or disturbing, at least I find some of them to be. Not for children.

This was the first one of these - it shocked me.