Whether I want to or not, I paint art therapy rather than art. I don’t do pretty. I probably can’t do pretty. I do kick you in the gut.
Lately, I’ve been painting social commentary.
My original intention was to paint a scene from a park in Tucson, Arizona from one of the many photos I took when we visited the park. Instead, I made social commentary. When I was in law school, I had to take a course in natural resources. One day, I decided I had enough and complained that no one was seeing any inherent value in land or animals. Land has no value until you bulldoze it, remove every plant, and slap tract housing or a strip mall on it. Animals have no value until you kill them and rip their skin off. If animals had value, there would be no steel leg traps. Here in the southwest, desert is land with no value. City boundaries are extended every time a developer wants to put up tract housing and plant grass. We’re on year 20 of a serious drought, and people still insist on having grass in the desert. We’ve got a desert yard and only stuff that grows naturally in the desert is planted in the yard. I think we could put a dent in the water shortage by doubling the property taxes on any real estate that has grass.
If you see a saguaro cactus east of Tucson, it was stolen. Saguaros grow for about 70 years before getting their first “arm.” Apparently, saguaros only have value when they are ripped up and planted in someone’s yard.
There is no ocean front property in Hawaii. The beaches and access to the beaches belong to the people. This is from a photo I took when we visited the north shore of Oahu. The north shore is V shaped, and this beach is in the bottom of the V. Pipeline – the most deadly place to surf on the planet – is to the east towards the top of the V. I’m not happy with the painting. I don’t like how the water looks, but when I tried to fix it, it didn’t get fixed.
I didn’t realize I had neglected to move the chain out of the way before I took the shot. The blue in the middle is a Hebrew word meaning life. This one is both personal and political. People have been trying to wipe us out for 6000 years. We’re still here. My mother tried to destroy me. I’m still here.
The original is a photo I took for a photography class last spring. I introduced the photo by saying if you don’t know what these are, you had better learn because you might need them. I need to change the introduction a bit. If you don’t know what these are, you better learn because you will need them. These are DIY instruments often made from coat hangers. The instrument on the left spreads the cervix making room for the instrument on the right which scrapes away the lining of the uterus. A few years back, I had a biopsy and discovered that I have a septate uterus. For those women having a uterus like mine, pregnancy is life threatening. There’s a 90% chance of a miscarriage if a woman has a septate uterus. Now, with doctors too terrified (or too chickenshit) to remove the remains of a partial miscarriage, women are being sent home from emergency rooms so they can bleed to death in the comfort of their own home. If they become septic and are close to dead, they will be allowed back into the hospital where they will listen to some ob/gyn try to talk them into having a hysterectomy.
I’ve been doing some photography. My photography at least is art rather than a kick in the gut. Spring in the desert comes with blooms that don’t last long.
These are shots from a red yucca growing in our front yard.
These shots are of the magic prickly pear in our front yard. During the day, the flowers are yellow – just like every other prickly pear cactus in our yard. In the morning and early evening, the flowers are peach colored. I’ve no idea why that happens.
I have two posts this week. The other post, which is here: https://debthumanblog.com/2023/05/06/this-weekend-will-again-be-painful/ is about the annual misery I go through around mother’s day.
I’m linking with Nina Marie here: https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/
Deb Thuman Art with jewelry for sale is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com
My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman
Deb's Art 