Velvet Verbosity

First, let me just get this out of the way. I got carded the other day. Not just carded. When I handed the guy my license, he laughed and said, “Wow!”. When I asked what the “Wow” was for, he said, “Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting, you know, 1970. I was expecting 1980-something.” Oh. My. God. Did he just say that and mean it? Score! Any of the crap going on in my life was suddenly and swiftly erased from my memory for a brief moment.

Ok, it stroked my ego. Sue me. Believe me, the universe will punish me for it in some unkind way in the very near future. Let me have my moment.

Last night I experimented with the different paints and brushes I bought. The children’s washable paint was crap. I mean crap. I wouldn’t let a two-year old paint with this stuff. It left washed out lines with rough borders, and was hard to control. There’s a good waste of a buck-99.

Then it was on to the tubed water-color. I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to add two drops of water to a small amount and get a very good consistency. I begged my daughter to let me practice on her, but I had to bribe her with Ben and Jerry’s (this would not be the first time) and she giggled and squirmed so much that it was an exercise in frustration. So I had to resort to paper and my own forearm which required a lot of washing to renew the “canvas”.

I was skeptical about watercolors, thinking they would run too much, but with a bit of practice, I was able to get beautiful, crisp, dark lines. I was also surprised by the brushes. I bought one very thin one that I thought would be best, but I also bought a few others with thicker points, and it turns out that the thin point was too thin and didn’t hold enough paint, forcing me to refresh for each letter.  I would have pictures to show you, but alas, my camera is dead.

I still have to try the pens and the glass quill.

I’ve been receiving a lot of enthusiastic support for the project, and I hope this translates into higher likelihood of getting grant funding. So far, everyone I’ve asked to write and model for me has been happily willing. Still, I don’t know a lot of people in my local area. I had to ask at least one person that lives in another state, but as it happens he’ll be passing through my general area in about a week so that was just a stroke of luck. I spent the bulk of my time here in the Smith bubble, not getting to know anyone outside of the college. Then I took a job where most of the people work remotely from New York or elsewhere. One might think this will be a great opportunity to meet new people, expand the circle…but I think that approaching guys at the local hipster cafe and asking them to write and strip for me could be a little, uh, misconstrued.

The problem with blogs is that you have to keep giving them attention. There’s been so much activity in my life lately, and I’d love to be sharing it here, but the nature of being busy is that some things have to slip. For me, it’s been writing.

The big news is that I have embarked on an interesting art project that has been percolating in the underground of my mind for some time. 4 or 5 years ago, I saw the movie The Pillow Book. It is not a story for the feint of heart, but the imagery is stunning and left a mark on me I’ve never forgotten. The idea of writing on the body has been with me ever since. I knew then that someday this would come to some kind of fruition, and for me the idea has come.

I am still working on articulating the vision. I will be asking various men to write a piece of prose or poetry in response to women’s experience in the world, in our culture, but also throughout history and across many cultures. A world where we are often not safe simply because of our gender, and nothing more. As some of you know, I’ve gone off on a few tangents here regarding some feminist issues. I also expressed that I was never keen on being an “angry” feminist. It always left a bad taste in my mouth. On the other hand, being a woman, and not knowing a single woman, including myself, that has escaped unscathed from male to female violence, whether physical, sexual, or emotional, I cannot sit idle and silent. This has been a lifelong personal struggle for me. I know so many wonderful men who have seen the damage done to women, and who grieve themselves over it. I see no usefulness in creating more division between the sexes, and I’ve struggled with how to communicate to men what it is we women are upset about and why.

Then, in a beautiful moment, many of my passions came together at once. An opportunity to bring together many loves into one project. Men will write, from the heart, to women (as a general body of people) and I will write these “pieces” somewhere on their body and create a photographic record of this.

There are some difficulties with the project. In fact, there will be a lot of experimenting before I get it right. I am putting together a portfolio now in order to apply for an arts grant. So, here are some of the things I need to figure out.

1. What is the best paint or ink to use, and what tool will best work to administer that ink or paint. The difficulty is that it needs to be non-toxic to the skin, the tools should be pleasant enough to the skin, and the consistency should be neither too thick or too thin. Too thick makes it difficult to write legibly. Too thin makes it run or bleed on unsmooth surfaces. So far I’ve experimented with eyeliner as it is made to be used on skin. Liquid eyeliner works decently well and I’ve had the most success with that so far. However, it is expensive for very small amounts, and the brush, while allowing great control, has such a small grip that it makes it uncomfortable for me to write very long. Pen eyeliners are problematic as they actually don’t give nice sharp lines. Even the best ones tend to leave ragged edges. Today I picked up some good paintbrushes and various types of washable paints and I am now experimenting with those. I will also be experimenting with soy-based ink and calligraphy pens and a glass quill.
2. Photographing. In my first round, we got some very good shots, but I found I had to sacrifice good form shots for getting a clear shot of the writing, or the opposite. I will need to experiment with different lenses, lighting, size of writing, and poses to find the best formula.
3. The biggest obstacle will be to properly convey to the subjects what my intention is and to thus draw out of them powerful and meaningful messages to women. The ultimate goal here is to bridge the gap, to get people thinking, and to get people (men and women) to be more thoughtful toward one another, not just in their personal interactions, but in how they behave and engage generally with the world.

So, that is one big reason I haven’t been writing here very much lately. My mind is pretty engaged with this project at the moment. Feel free to write to me if you would like to make an offering of any kind to the project, whether it is an idea, materials, cashola, or just a kind word.