The Joy of Painting Protest Pictures

In these grim times in the United States of America, almost everyone is anguished and/or frustrated.  Those of us who believe in the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps are horrified we have legislators who believe we should do without them.  We can't see erasing the gains we, our parents, and our grandparents fought and worked for.  Since I depend for more than half of my income on earned Social Security (40 years' of work), I have been fighting depression.

 

Facebook has given me a way to express myself and fight back.  Everybody and his turkey is posting captioned pictures of all kinds to prove their points.  I decided to add my dressed-up cats to the mix.

 

For years I had been frustrated painting smiley, happy cats for public consumption at craft fairs.  Not surprisingly, my initial impulse to draw was founded in operatic photos.  Some of those are none too pleasant, because opera deals with all the emotions.  Lately I have done a couple of works that let those feelings out, and I shall see how the public reacts to a painted box of operatic scenes.

 

Then, suddenly, I had a purpose for emotional art.  I, too, could express myself on Facebook, in my articles on Examiner.com, and here.  I've been cullling every photo or image I could find among my collection, looking for pictures of worried, unhappy, or angry people.  These images include ones taken from magazines, art books, costume histories, movies, and operas.  I usually change the clothing so the original source is not too obvious.

 

This is immensely satisfying emotionally.  I draw and paint with a purpose, working out my anxiety and hoping someone will benefit from sharing these images.