Sometimes a painting takes me on a journey, and this was one of those. I approached this canvas with a desire to stay open and see where it would take me.
It went through several revisions, and I was really discouraged and almost gave up a few times. There were days in a row where I couldn't even look at it, let alone work on it, because I couldn't see the path forward.
But one of my mottos when painting is "Surrender to the place of total exploration." So when I had enough courage, I would approach it again with curiosity instead of criticism, and explore where it could take me.
When it was finally finished, I knew it needed a name that reflected the struggle we had been through together. This stanza from Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" came to me, and this painting is worthy of reflecting such a doyenne as she.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
This is a painting about hope. It is about tenacity, and it is about not giving up in the midst of hardship. Despite the struggle from which it was formed, it is light and airy and full of optimism. This is "Still I Rise," 12in x 12in acrylic on canvas.
