I quit my day job! As of May 1, I’m a full time artist. Yikes! (Just kidding, I’m not really scared about it. Feels great.) I’ve been painting up a storm outside, lots to scan and show, but for now here are a few new drawings.
It’s hard to spot – but that’s one of my figure sketches in the right hand photo on this London interior designer’s photo. She shops on Etsy. : ) Yay! Thanks Heather!
“Shalyn” Graphite Drawing by Sarah F Burns 7″ x 14″ “Q Quast” graphite drawing by Sarah F Burns 11″ x 14″“Autumn” graphite drawing by Sarah F Burns 7″ x 7″“Leah” acrylic sketch by Sarah F Burns 9″ x 9″“Leah Back” acrylic sketch by Sarah F Burns 6″ x 8″
Proserpina’s,, Oil on Panel, 32″ x 44″ by Sarah F Burns
The figurative piece is at Illahe Gallery, Ashland, Oregon until the end of February 2013.
These pieces were created in my studio using a live model. The painting is a modern take on the myth of Persephone. I was particularly inspired a song by Martha Wainwright, “Proserpina”, which was written by Wainwright’s mother, Kate McGarrigle. It chronicles Proserpina/Persephone’s mother’s grief and calls her daughter to “come home to Mama”. I imagined Proserpina/Persephone in the underworld, and in my version she is complicit in going with the trouble maker Pluto, complicit in eating the pomegranate seeds that means she will have to live in the underworld for three-four months a year. Coming of age, she realizes her decision is flawed, but she’d likely do it again, as would many young women who jump in with the charming fellows who come along and fail to think of the fury and heartbreak it will cause their mother, not to mention Proserpina’s own regrets until the sober light of day. Who among us, male or female can’t say they make certain mistakes again and again and wonder when they will finally learn to make choices that have better consequences?
I have been thinking about it for months and it will soon be a reality. I am cutting way back on my administrative job in January to be able to paint full time (and teach a little bit). The prospect of not working for a regular pay check is a little scary but as my friend Amy said to me, “If you’re going to be an artist you have to be brave.
I drive through this intersection at least twice a day on may way to and from my day job.