Black Lives Matter

When Blue and I initially began this a few weeks ago now, we were thinking of the claws of birds struggling. (I had been exploring this since seeing the Elizabeth Frink exhibition at the Sainsbury center in Norwich last year) 

On the way to the studio, Blue had seen a dead baby bird, so when I asked her to pose like this, she was thinking of the juxtaposition of the spring, the life bursting forth and the little, futile, broken claws. 

This is why we like to work together, after all these years, she just gets what I am trying to say. 

So, I re worked it, a few times. 

Then the terrible, distressing, upsetting, infuriating events unfolded. At the weekend we were both at the protest in Ipswich. 

The more I looked at this work in progress, the more I saw how it could represent an aspect of black lives matter.

This week I reworked it again, mainly the hands, and how the backround worked.

When I work from the model I am exploring the figure and my thoughts, and what is going on around me.