Day 8 of Ally Oop we’re exploring change. Yesterday we wrote about things that hold us back or ways we hold ourselves apart from our true self; today we cover that with an empowered rendering of ourselves (whether it be collage, sketch, colors, whatever). I have been on a little exploration of my own that has been going on for a few weeks, having to do with saturated color, unexpected use of color, and distorted and imperfect portraiture. So when it came time to use my writing from yesterday as a palimpsest, I knew I would be trying this style out again and listening for meaning.
Part of my captivation is in how it looks; part of it is this internal thing that’s going on when I make it. Today it was perhaps the most obvious to me as it has ever been: making this kind of portraiture feels like a basic, personal truth.
I worked on it throughout the day in bits and pieces, getting called over to it to add more. At one point, as I considered it there on my art table, my gut had this to say about it: “truth.”
I wondered whether my gut was talking about working in that way or commentating about this being the depiction of my empowered self.
“Both,” my gut said, “they’re the same.”