First new piece of 2025.
Sorry to a Broken Heart, 16x20, mixed media. I think it is self-explanatory, but a long explanation of my (too many) thought processes follows, if interested.
Initial concept: I wanted to highlight the damage words can do. I was reminded of an old story where someone couldn’t understand why an apology didn’t fix a situation. Another person handed them a plate, told them to smash it, and then said, “Ok, now say you’re sorry.” Of course, that didn’t fix the plate.
Heart: I wanted to use book pages. I tore them in pieces and assembled them to form a heart like shape. The cracks follow the torn edges of the pages. I shaded them to make it look like some pieces were stacked over others. I added red and blue on there because, originally, I was thinking I was going to make this political. But I decided I wanted it to be more universal, so I toned it down with white and silver. That caused me to lose some of the words in the heart, so I left some color.
Background: I wanted the background to look like a wall, thinking that if you let your walls down, that’s how your heart gets broken. I used joint compound and spread it around with my fingers. This also helped make it look like the heart was retreating back into the wall.
The words: I used pages from the glossary of the same literature book as the background for my words. I struggled with which words to use. I went through several ideas, including using vile things politicians have said. Then I considered using words that are used to degrade women or minorities. Ultimately, in thinking that I wanted this to be personal to everybody, I decided on words that could be said with malice to anyone.
Those are my EDITED thoughts. 🤣
#art #acrylicpainting #mixedmedia #words #sorry #heart #kindness