day 10. Black Lives Matter

I celebrate all those who have raised their voices and put themselves out there to support the African-American community, and our whole community! How can ANY of us feel safe if ANY of us are NOT safe? We are all one. 

One protester’s sign—

“We didn’t come this far to only come this far”

From an artist’s perspective, “black” people have always been beautiful to me. For one, there are so many different shades and tones, it’s endlessly interesting. The first portrait I ever painted was from my imagination of what a beautiful person would look like: an African woman (in Africa, of course). 

So, here, I revisited that theme and painted another African person, a man this time. He was in a story about a man starting a video “theater” in his home town where few had tv’s and there were no movie houses.  A hero of entertainment!

Ciné

SF Botanical Garden

there is a free day at the SF Botanical Garden once a month, but I rather accidentally ended up there on the free day! I happened to have my painting kit with me and so I thought I would find plentiful subjects there. I wandered around the 55 acres for over an hour, ending up near the main gate where there were some magnificent crabapple trees blooming. I have never had a lot of luck or skill at painting flowering trees, but they were so beautiful I had to try again.

It was pretty late by the time I got back around to that location, and the sun was streaming over the lawn from a low point, making these great shadows that are really fun. It seems the trick is to simplify the trees, just making them into shapes.