Pride Month is Almost Here!!!

I kicked things off by submitting some art to an LGBTQIA+ art show. We’ll see what they say. In total, I submitted 3 pieces. The one I like best was a partially-deconstructed overpaint I re-titled “Erasure.”

The poem which originally covered most of its surface was titled “Theory of Everything.”

It’s about someone I was involved with some time ago, who was a big fan of Stephen Hawking, and had a theory about most men, even married men, keeping a minimum of 5 women “in their stable” at all times. He also snarked about my decorated denim jacket, the art I picked out for my bathroom, and made a very reductionist remark about my paintings.

The denim jacket had a cutout from a t-shirt I had found online depicting The Great Wave. I stitched it into the back panel myself then highlighted details with various shades of fabric paint, some glittery, some not. “Yeah. You bedazzled it.” As if I had defaced a masterpiece. I thought it was pretty! I still do.

My bathroom art after that decorative update (I redid rooms a lot in his absence, in between seasons of him dropping back into my life)… I had a framed art print that spelled out “BELIEVE” in architectural features that looked like letters. This he also thought beneath him. “Well, at least it’s architecture, and not hands, spelling out the letters.”

At the time, I was making mainly what I thought of as semi-abstract self-portraits. They didn’t necessarily look like me, but they looked like how I felt. And fantastical looking flowers. His hot take? “Chicks and flowers, eh? You’re probably a lesbian.”

Mind you, I was obsessively in love with him at this point. Surely that would have been evidence to the contrary, but no. He couldn’t conceive of me being bisexual or, perhaps, even his equal, in any meaningful sense. I’m not sure how I missed all the put-downs at the time. I just felt privileged to have landed him in the first place, to any extent, like he was inherently out of my league. Because he was attractive and tall and intelligent, and we had such fierce chemistry.

Since editing the poem and shortening it, I decided to call it “Theories of Everything” instead; there are now references in the last few lines about Persistence of Vision and the idea that divine consciousness is what holds objects fixed when we as human beings aren’t actively observing them. That second bit, I remembered from a college philosophy course, but I don’t recall who wrote it.

When I first Googled the second theory, I thought it originated with Descartes, but I can’t seem to verify that a second time. So I’m editing the ending a bit further. And it feels a bit heavy-handed now. I don’t know. I have some time yet, however, to play around with it, before submissions begin and end with the women’s press I had in mind, as one potential publisher.

What’s really SUPER SUPER cool about the LGBTQIA+ art show (besides inclusion, and Pride Month, obviously), is that they extended the submission window. Otherwise I would have missed it.

I dallied on what to paint, since I didn’t have any usable pieces that they hadn’t already seen. Nothing on-theme. Then, I came down with a wee head cold and DEFINITELY didn’t feel up to painting. Not that painting is physically demanding, but my head wasn’t in the right space.

Then, I saw someone share notice of the extension on Instagram and thought BAM, it was meant to be. But since I didn’t make it into the last LGBTQIA+ show this gallery offered, I am also trying to bear in mind that my voice, my art, is still important and has value no matter what. And I will keep making things and submitting things either way. Tough as it sometimes feels.

BUT… there’s one MOAR super cool thing about the extension. They extended the submission period, but I don’t think they bumped back the date that you receive notification about possible acceptance. So I will literally find out TOMORROW if I got anything in the show. How amazing is that?!

I suppose for interest sake, I can share the other 2 pieces I submitted. Here is Sailor’s Delight, which had a longer subtitle I have since kind of forgotten, but it involved the joy of visibility, a word which has the word “bi” right in it.

It’s an abstract portrait of now-infamous (and also bi) blue mohawk dude, morphed from a landscape that had a lot of blue in it which I converted to “hair.” The title comes from the adage about red at night vs red in the morning, and his parting comment before he ghosted me, in which he referred to himself as a sailor.

I’m not a HUGE fan of this one, but I included it anyway. They can see what they think. It feels sloppy to me. And I know I am much more a fan of glitter than art galleries LOL… I was COVERED in it last night after shaking off the excess.

Here’s piece number three, which riffs off the sketch I was figuring on using if I self-publish my poetry collection No Place In This World. It’s entitled Mr. Midnight II, as a sequel to the original drawing, which I called Mr. Midnight, playing off dude’s username, without giving it away.

The first one is by far my fave, and the one that took the most time. I wrote the poem, edited the poem, printed the poem, edited it again and reprinted it, found and edited the open-source photo that was originally in the center and added graphics to that, then shredded the bits of paper on the canvas and painted OVER the open-source photo and added the lettering, etc.

Still a chance they will pass on all 3, but at least I tried. And, it felt really good to make some schtuff. Paint on my skin, oil pastel smeared around my fingernail beds. Good times! And I mean that sincerely, not sarcastically. It actually makes me profoundly happy to see my skin marked by proof of creative activities. I have since showered and have just a touch of oil pastel under my fingernails. Alas.

Moving on.

PRIDE MONTH IS NIGH!!! So excited about that! Especially since it’s also my birth month. Woo to the hoo!!!

Yes, I look nothing like any of the figures in the Bi Pride featured image I made, but that’s okay. I think it turned out pretty. And it somewhat reflects my taste in peeps LOL… as much as it can without exploring the full masc spectrum from hippie to alt that I enjoy.

I had originally planned on tackling some heavy issues here, related to bisexuality, but I’m in a more upbeat mood than I was researching the statistics last night. So I think we’ll save that for another day. For tax, one last image. A filtered selfie from awhile back. Really dig the way my eyes look in this one.

Peace! And Happy (early) Pride!