lst Piece: Mapplethorpe Double

15" x 22" BFK Rives Paper Silkscreen: acrylic and watercolor.
First set of these (about six unique pieces) are finished.

Silkscreen - Robert Mapplethorpe

Don't expect a high-quality digital file to ever be uploaded here. I have problems with the 'fair use' issues and like artists in other mediums, I think my work should be protected.

This is one of the second set of silkscreens I have hand-pulled, using my own negatives of Mapplethorpe, back in l985. I like the Warhol-like style, and go a bit farther with that idea. This one has color, but most don't.

I think you would agree with me that Robert Mapplethorpe himself is/was an object of beauty and desire. He would probably like these pieces. I'd like to think so. I am drawn to the power of his 'gaze' in this image. Here is one of the smaller ones.

The Ease of Days

So I went to Paris and kept up with my young niece. She is a fireball of energy, and me, I take things a bit slower, and my mind races with ideas.

My niece thinks that I have ADD. I had to look at why she said that, and the reason is: a memoir that needs re-writing, a screenplay that needs re-writing, a set of short stories (mostly complete), a new novel about a group of survivors, etc. I am currently teaching darkroom photo classes, but also taking a class in Silkscreen, which I have on my list of 'must do' and finally, I am in it. I love it. I am taking images from Robert Mapplethorpe that I took way back in l985, as the negatives are weak and they render well in silkscreen. This all explains why my niece thinks, as when she asks me what I'm doing, all of the above comes out, with updates.

What she doesn't realize is that for the first time in my life, I see that there is a tunnel. Maybe I don't see the tunnel yet and surely not the end of it, but I am aware that it is there. I cared for my mother as she died from Alzheimers and it changed the very essence of what living is for me. So since I sense the tunnel, I am gauging the distance and suddenly, I am in a hurry. Time has a different feel. It's more precious. I have so much to say.

I don't care for the pressure I feel to get it all done. I remember very well the ease of days, the endless, casual lack of time. No artist has a day off, it's all part of the work. I have to make time just to be in time. I envy her time-sense.

Thanks for the support recently, and the feedback to all.