Hi folks, well, I am getting my rhythm down. Ten days seems like a good spell to gather some words for you.

The above photo shows two works in progress. They are based on the Polaroids below them. I began my polaroid series with my mother’s SX-70 on a road trip. You can read that whole blurb on my website. I usually only work from my own photos, but these Polaroids were taken in the early 90’s in NY at Wigstock by Adjoa Stack, my aunty, sister, and friend. She gifted these to me to create something with them. They are for an upcoming show, and Adjoa will be there to tell the stories. I’ll keep you posted. I still have a long way to go.

Working in wax is more like sculpting to me. I heat my pallet and build the layers, fuse them and plane them down with sculpting tools. I burnish them to get that transparent look, like a Polaroid has. It is a meticulous process that requires a lot of patience. One slip can take out layers and hours of work. I have some process videos on my phone, but I still have to edit them to share with you. It seems like the layers never stop needing more until they don’t, and suddenly is it done. I feel like this sounds like complaining.

I’ll tell you a story. I got my first month long art residency at the Mendocino Art Center awhile back. I was astonished that I would get to focus on art exclusively for one month! I wrote letters a lot at that time in my life. I wrote to my sister about how it was cold, In reality I was feeling lonely and paralyzed. I was complaining. When her letter arrived in the mail, I opened it and she addressed me as such, “Dear Prisoner For Art’s Sake…” I laughed so damn hard. I am smiling even now as I think of it.

She isn’t here anymore, but that day she gave me a gift, not to be so serious. Especially about serious things like art. :)

So go out and do some serious work, and make sure you save room to laugh at yourself.

Much love,

Zoe

Latest Read: theWARofART I am reading it again. Buy at your local bookstore or even better, check it out from your local library!

Art Date: SF peeps! I went to the Christina Kent’s opening of Light in the City. Beautiful perspective of San Francisco.

Inspiration: The kids at local high school, Lick Wilmerding, who organized a silent auction for the Transgender Law Center. I donated a painting and the event was so fun. Still waiting on numbers, but they rocked it.

Shout Out: To my brother who bought me the book above. He has my back.

This is #2 of Zoe Ani’s Tidbits & Tangents. You can subscribe or view the archives online.