Making

IDOL

After a year of anxiety reflected in my art…

“In A Dark Time The Mind Begins To See,” 2017

2018 dawned with a determination for power.

As the year began, I came upon a crown

lying on a sidewalk.

It belonged to a force of nature,

a woman

who would take no guff.

I set out to create her

using no photo, no model,

just feeling who she had to be.

At first she thought being an “idol”

was ridiculous,

and I didn’t mind if she laughed at herself.

A few years ago I painted a jolly Buddha

so I was ok with humor in art.

“Juggling Galaxies,” 2015

But she wasn’t having it.

She kept transforming

and then it was time to paint.

She needed deep folds around her

wizened eyes,

radiant with energy from within

crevices of experience,

still hopeful with a suggestion

of a smile.

Her hands had to be generous,

not what people call “feminine,”

a rough-hewed woman of nature

in bronze and gold.

Her cloak would be tall grass

I found on the dirt

and sealed forever with resin.

She would be tall so I attached

two canvases to give her 80 inches

(almost seven feet) in height.

I laid her down in her cloak of straw

and fastened the crown on her head.

There she waits until…

months from now she will be up on a gallery wall

and conjure our collective

power.