Swirl

I work at a theatre and this summer a production of RENT came thru by a great local company called Dream Out Loud.  As part of their set design they had a graffiti wall: black base with whites, pinks, browns, green and blue slashes all over, and red AIDS ribbons added throughout the production.  When they were moving out they had all this leftover paint from the Graf wall and didn’t want to take it all, so they asked if we wanted to keep it.  I don’t know if WE did, but I did.

They were all soft pastels: pink, green, yellow, blue.  Tones and hues of those that are much softer and lighter than anything else I had.  I got very excited and brought out one of my bigger canvases.  I started with the yellow, with which I did this simple swirly swirl, tapering to a small pod near the center, almost like a rose bud.  Then I filled in some other space with the green – another swirl complementing the yellow.  Then a soft pink swirl around both of those.  I took some deeper paints of the same colors: a brighter yellow, a dark blue, and added a few shadows and outlines for texture. 

I really liked it but wasn’t sure if it was done.  I showed it to DMS and she said “Really?  A vagina?”

So I wasn’t done.

Essentially that first draft was what you see now, but with none of the black.  Where the black is, about 50% of that was just white canvas.  Another 25% was the original green, yellow or pink, which I blacked over.  And the last 25% was the dark blue, which I really didn’t like once I’d added the black.  All in all I love the start contrast of that black with the much softer colors.  I think its rich.

So that’s how you make something NOT a vagina.  Add black.  

I mean, really?  Vagina?  You go there?  Sure it’s a fun series of swirly shapes, and a vagina is ALSO a fun series of swirly shapes…

But, really?