INTERSPECIES REST

This series began with a late night sketch at a moment of great fatigue. The unlikely pile of animals and humans precariously resting together captured a world I wanted to be in at that moment: interwoven, tender, quiet, heavy. Rest is a vulnerable state. We either feel safe enough to let down our guard, or we are so exhausted that we have no choice. 

Recently, the process begins with an underpainting of pinks, creating a loose pile of shapes and marks that map out the structure. Sometimes the composition feels stable, and other times it is more perilous. Then, I take my time and allow the marks to make suggestions to me, and see which creatures emerge from the underpainting. I love when the marks lead to strange bedfellows … to celebrate the value of all beings, and also to push the imagination to create the conditions of fatigue, trust, or collaboration that would lead these beings to be at rest together peaceably, with tenderness and intimacy.