Mary Don't You Weep

Moses stood on the RED SEA SHORE

SMOTIN' THE WATER with a TWO BY FOUR

The Lord told Moses what to do

To lead those Hebrew children thru

God gave Noah the RAINBOW SIGN

No more WATER but FIRE next time

Mary wore three LINKS OF CHAIN

Every link was in Freedoms name

When I get to HEAVEN, gonna sing & shout

Nobody up there to put me out!

One of these MORNINGS, it won't be long

You're gonna call my name, but i'll be gone

One of these days 'bout 12 o'clock

This OLD WORLDS gonna reel & rock

One of these days in the middle of the NIGHT

People gonna rise & set things right

 

 

The vibrant imagery and dark undertones of Mary Don't You Weep inspired me to create something equally as vibrant and dark. Colors flew through my conscious upon reading this tale of death, perseverance, and miracle. I wanted to layer, join, and meld this imagery and their corresponding colors into something new that elicits the same emotions that these words so gracefully achieve.

Blood Stained Banders

 

 

 

If you want to go to heaven
Just over on the other shore,
Keep out the way of the blood-strained banders
O good Shepherd, feedin' my sheep.

            

                                                     -Jimmie Strothers

 

Heaven here can be reached in two ways

Either fall to the weapons of the banders

or make it to the promise land

Down in the Valley

In an attempt to decipher the song "Down in the Valley" I created this pencil drawing that was intended to represent the bottom of a hole. As I read the lyrics and listened to the songs a few times over I began to understand exactly where each protagonist is located geographically and what each location is meant to emote. I believe the speaker is a woman who is longing for her lover (a man). She is inside a jail and the jail is inside a valley. The man is living "freely" and possibly happily at a higher elevation so that if a castle were to be built 40 ft high, within the valley then she would see him as he rode by on a horse. I believe the valley to represent a dark place or state of mind. It calls out to anybody who longs for something. The negative space in the drawing is for the viewer to place whatever he or she longs for.

Love Me Tender

Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Song: "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley
Singer: Elvis Impersonator
Subject: Family