Monday, January 21, 2013

Inscribed Girls & Some Thoughts on the Past

Inscribed Girls by megan_n_smith_99
Inscribed Girls, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.
This is my latest pen & ink drawing. It's 11 x 14". I started with the center and sort of spiraled out. I started with the girl leaning on her hands. Then I wandered up to the long-haired girl on the left. Eventually I made it over to the temple on the right, then down towards the bottom, and I did the top last. I didn't exactly plan most of it. I did do some pencil outlines of the girls and the temple, but most of it just sort of grew or happened.

Inscribed girls is about girls inscribed by - what? the past? sacred scars? truth? or are those lines across their bodies lace or the shadows of lace? perhaps they grew, like vines or encroaching moss or lichen. How you see it depends of what you bring to the page as the viewer.

Inscribed Girls
11 x 14"
Pen & ink
Available on Etsy.

So, speaking of the past... I was just thinking of the whole concept of "reuse" and "upcycled" etc. -- those hipster terms. But it's what our grandmothers and great grandmothers just called "using" or "being practical." of course they reused fabric - be it remaking dresses or using feed sacks for curtains. They reused jars and containers. They redid dresses to follow trends. They shared and loved and passed on outgrown toys and clothing. they shared and passed around books and recipes. They did not even know they were being cool. They were just being practical. I guess it's great that people are thinking about stuff like that again - but what would they think about the term "upcycled"?

I kind of think they would find it silly.

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