I heard on the radio that CEOs and the wealthy who are attending Davos are not concerned about the state of the global economy. Like the wealthy folks in the brilliant tv show “White Lotus” their money gives them the freedom to tune out the world’s problems. They can live in the bubble of the wealthy and ignore the dire climate emergency we are in, the war in Ukraine or the way capitalism is failing so many. It is almost comical how they all act as though a space ship is going to be built to save them and their families from all the planet wide disasters that are in the earth’s future if we do not just stop…STOP ADDING Carbon to the atmosphere. All that matters is that Chinese workers are back at work and their wealth can continue to grow despite everyone else’s wealth declining. I also learned listening to the radio as I walked today that some people like Kim Kardashian and other wealthy people are having their PPE Covid loans forgiven. How bold of them. And that most of the wealth gained during the first year of the pandemic went to the 1%. Which means that all those nurses and doctors and teachers and grocery store workers and delivery people and other’s who worked like crazy and risked their lives during the first year of the pandemic were just sacrificial slaves for the elite.
Last night we watched the protestors in Germany as they stood in freezing rain and walked through muddy fields as they attempted to prevent a village from being destroyed so a coal mine can be expanded. Greta was there and arrested. Meanwhile nature continues to send us signals that this warming thing is not going to be kind to humans. California’s torrential rains might seem like a blessing given the drought. But the volume of rain on ground as dry as concrete is causing floods and mudslides.
My conversation with Joel definitely helped me reset. He was right to point out the disconnect between what I want to say with my art and what I pinned on the walls. The result has been a return to the broken button/sewingbox but this time with my dried flowers from Drumlin and Lindentree Farms. The images or scene I set up reminds me of the destroyed buildings I see in Europe in winter. I included a photo from the NYTimes because the trees remind me of the tangles of dried flowers I am drawing. I also took his advice to work large and use my 18x24 pad…although the problem with large is if I decide to frame these it will cost a fortune. And stay tuned as I am off the hook for babysitting tomorrow and I am eager to see what happens when I approach this still life with color.
The trees in this sad photo from the NYTimes of a funeral procession in Ukraine reminds me of my dried flowers that I am drawing.
I returned to charcoal on a large sheet of 18x24 paper for these two drawings. I am thinking about going back trying a version using ink.
