Month 10 — Traced

Here is a donkey for you. A kind of tired donkey, one that has served humanity long, pulling burdens too big for it. There are many countries that still run as much by donkey-power as gas: though the donkeys often suffer for it.

I wanted to try out every form of two-dimensional media I could think of, but needed a way to assist my jittery hands. I made a cardboard stencil which I then used to trace the donkey’s outline and then fill in, like a custom coloring book. Tracing is ubiquitous in art—why didn’t I think of it before? Simply because I used to be a good draftsperson and never bothered with it. So this is new to me.

New. This wasn’t just sifting through old skills to see what was left to me. It is an addition. I’m not sure I love the technique, but what a gift, to discover you can dip your sieve back into the river and sift for new gold.

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