i am sassa

September 23, 2020

Did you know that there are 100 days left of 2020?

I am going to try my best to paint one inspiring woman every day for the rest of this year. This is such a medicine for me right now, and I am so glad I found it. The present has been feeling gloomy, and though I don't want to wear blinders to that, I want to pay homage to the past. To all the women who have "paid my way", as this particular woman put it. I want to learn about and be inspired by those who have, even in the darkest times, shown up as relentlessly brilliant lights to show the way. And I want to share them with anyone who wants to learn with me.

I listened to interviews with Maya Angelou all day while I painted her. I cried more than once. She is so much more than I knew. She was San Fransisco's first black streetcar conductor, AT SIXTEEN. She was raped at 7 and did not speak for nearly 6 years, and poetry inspired her to find her voice again. She is, of course, an absolutely brilliant poet/writer, but she was also a dancer and singer with an awesome voice. I knew of her activism, and of her beautiful writing, but I am so glad to have learned so much more about her. Her birthday is two days before mine, and she was six feet tall like me. I felt like I was standing on her shoulders while I painted her. What a beautiful, gracious soul. I'll link a really great interview I listened to in the comments.

I listed limited edition gilded prints of this painting for pre-sale for now. I have no idea if I'll be doing that with every painting, but I do have a working plan to keep the originals and show them all together in 2022, so for me that's a good way to be able to pay some bills in the meantime while I'm hogging all my paintings I have no idea who I'll paint tomorrow, but I am always open to suggestions.