Original Art Sundays (Thrusday) No. 294: Never Again

 I rarely talk about politics here. My politics are hardly secret, but this is not a forum where I usually give them voice.

But this goes beyond politics. This goes to the heart of our nation. 

Many conservatives seem to hold that we liberals hate our country. Quite the opposite. We really love it so much we want to recognize its faults and correct them. One of my favorite quotes is attributed to Thomas Jefferson: "The purpose of democracy is not to make the nation perfect. It's to make the nation better." I'm unable to find a specific citation, and am working from memory, but the principle is the vital thing. Democracy is a fascinating experiment, a work in progress, which will probably never be completed. And despite everything, we were making progress in fits and starts, until a year ago today.

As we are on the anniversary of the January 6 attempt to overthrow our government, this is very much in my heart and in my thoughts. I am usually a champion of restorative justice over punitive justice. Not in this case. I believe everyone who acted in this shameful attempted revolution should be tried and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We must also safeguard voting rights. I am forced to agree with Bill Maher that this remains a slow moving coup, which will only be stopped with our vigilance.

I took to Photoshop for a quick work to try to express my passion on this crucial matter. A few simple steps and here we are.

So many of the "patriots" who joined in this disgrace have been claiming innocence, saying they were deluded, brainwashed, or generally disavowing their craven acts. I say some things can't be forgiven. Not many, but some. 

This is one.

We won't heal as a nation unless the body politic is strong enough. That won't happen unless we deal with this. As the American writer Poe contended, "A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser." So must we do for the strength of our nation.

All for now on this.

Next- back to our story.

Original Art Sundays, No. 13: so benull...

Well, it was a slow week, art-wise. But I did manage to get some sketching done while my student (!) was taking his exam.
The sad part for me is that while I can do such interesting work with just scrap Bristol from the cutting table and a rather fluid Jetsream brand black pen, so much of the line quality is lost in the scan unless you want a mountain of artifacts. I used to hate that sketchy stuff. Now it fascinates me.
Couple of my favorite experimental things here- the form defined by shadow (beginning of the first tier) and the mood piece drawing on the old saw of doing a continuous line (end of the second tier).
Also, a potential new character sprung out of nowhere- the French skeleton in Tier 1. You can tell he's French by the mustache. I'm sure I've seen something similar somewhere along the way, so I suspect he'll be a spear carrier in a future story.
The alien lovers reaching across space are part of my Poe pastiche. Another one that's been in the works for years.
Finally, a couple pop ins from the happy fish, Maggie's mule, and a VERY loose sketch of The Surrealist Cowgirls holding hands and ready for action!
Eager for 24 hour challenge this coming weekend. This week promises to be quite hectic!