I know I want to do a piece for Pride Month, and I think I've decided on Trans Joy as the topic. So far, all my pieces are political indignation or whimsy. Trans Joy is celebratory but still, absurdly, subversive. Which gives me that indignation to motivate me.
I thought going through some search results on Tumblr would be a good way to begin steeping myself in the subject. My oldest son is also trans, and joyful, but I don't want the piece to just be about us. The story of Luna is a beautiful start and I love both these women. Bless.
Today I used up my very first tub of acrylic medium. Scraped that thing clean as a whistle, sides and bottom. My husband congratulated me, unironically.
I cracked it open and used the first little dollop of it 15 days ago.
For whatever reason, for me, 2026 is the year I became obsessed with making mixed media art. My husband has always made line drawings of weird little guys. For some reason this year I developed the urge to turn them into portraits. This is our first collaborative piece.
I'm not sure if this guy is DONE, and ready to be mounted onto a canvas, or just done with THESE STEPS, and now it's time to build him a collagey background. But this is what I got done today.
OK, I figured out what size I wanted him on, got him mounted on a canvas with... imperfect results.
When I watched mixed media tutorials, paper was mounted on other surfaces by applying an even layer of gel media on the back, then laying it flat on the final surface and pressinf out air bubbles. Everyone else's looked smooth and nice.
This is exactly what I did.
I tried to correct it. Tutorials also had them adding media on top and smoothing THAT out, so I did that as well.
When it was clearly going to stay bubbly and/or wrinkly, I started trying to massage it with the card I was using to spread the media evenly. Laid wax paper on top and worked at smoothing it out - perpendicular to the grain. Actually massaged it with my hands and fingers.
Realized maybe, if I let the paper be strengthened by media, WITHOUT being glued to anything, then tried to glue it later when it was waterproofed, maybe it would work better? It seemed like a lot of the paper was loose enough to tug off, if I was careful.... whoops! Nope, starting to rip. Glued it back.
After all was said and done, this was the best I could get it. Not sure what I'll do next. Kind of letting my mind percolate for now. Usually something comes to the foreground at some point.
For whatever reason, for me, 2026 is the year I became obsessed with making mixed media art. My husband has always made line drawings of weird little guys. For some reason this year I developed the urge to turn them into portraits. This is our first collaborative piece.
I'm not sure if this guy is DONE, and ready to be mounted onto a canvas, or just done with THESE STEPS, and now it's time to build him a collagey background. But this is what I got done today.
OK, I figured out what size I wanted him on, got him mounted on a canvas with... imperfect results.
When I watched mixed media tutorials, paper was mounted on other surfaces by applying an even layer of gel media on the back, then laying it flat on the final surface and pressinf out air bubbles. Everyone else's looked smooth and nice.
This is exactly what I did.
I tried to correct it. Tutorials also had them adding media on top and smoothing THAT out, so I did that as well.
When it was clearly going to stay bubbly and/or wrinkly, I started trying to massage it with the card I was using to spread the media evenly. Laid wax paper on top and worked at smoothing it out - perpendicular to the grain. Actually massaged it with my hands and fingers.
Realized maybe, if I let the paper be strengthened by media, WITHOUT being glued to anything, then tried to glue it later when it was waterproofed, maybe it would work better? It seemed like a lot of the paper was loose enough to tug off, if I was careful.... whoops! Nope, starting to rip. Glued it back.
After all was said and done, this was the best I could get it. Not sure what I'll do next. Kind of letting my mind percolate for now. Usually something comes to the foreground at some point.
SHOUTOUT TO MY BIGGEST INSPIRATION AND BEST ARTISTIC FRIEND
S.I.N.
S.I.N's art online
https://gofund.me/d41182f33
S.I.N (they, them/Two Spirited ) is a multifaceted artist who specializes in a number of mediums from music, to performance art and writing, to fine art to art therapy and activism! The focus of their art is coping with the experience of being a survivor of American Modern Slavery, exploring its cultural and societal ramifications and creating opportunities for survivors to be integrated back into society after escaping.
Their art is a striking view into apart of the human condition seldom explored in modern art, the reality of what it feels like being a survivor of human trafficking in this country. The work succeeds in captivating the hearts and minds of the viewer with visceral imagery derived from their unconscious. Dissecting the reality one painting, piece of writing and song at a time!
Currently they have a collection of 13 paintings one of which was given away that are also available on the market for those interested in supporting their cause to end Human trafficking and aid survivors!
THEIR MEDIUM OF CHOICE FOR THESE WORKS IS SPRAY PAINT BUT THEY ALSO USE GOUACHE AND WATERCOLOR!
Photo of the artist giving away one of their signature works! This is one of their pieces they gave away called: SIN 10 x 24 canvas by S.I.N. c. 2026
here's two of their other paintings; (top: "Dear Valentine, I accept pity fucks" Huge piece, bottom: "Not human enough, WORLDWIDE" Huge piece, c. Feb, 2026 by S.I.N)
video of the top painting being made on their Youtube channel:
These pieces speak to the harsh rejection that a survivor can feel when people feel a need to ostracize them due to their differences. It speaks to the alienation and the longing for connection that people will often choose to be blind to out of fear simply knowing the horrors a survivor has seen and understands. That awareness leads to an intensity that must be directed mindfully in the form of safe love and intimacy or artistic creation. Intimacy is something a survivor longs for by virtue of the distance and sociological dissociation that comes with experiencing what is in essence the hell of this country. Re-entering into society comes with many difficulties because the compilement of stark misunderstandings brought on by an unwillingness for a community to welcome these survivors with curiosity. Subjugating them to segregation, a life of separation and stratification that disenfranchises whole populations of people leading them into a descent that few manage to escape from. It's a somber reality i am reminded of every time I revisit this piece. It has a playfulness to it, the erotic nature of the top painting evoking BDSM shame kink elements while also being grounded in the reality that people meet many survivor's stories with pity before love. Leading to the relegation of a whole person to be of a sub-human status, thus in the shadow of this erotic desperate flirtation we see the reality of a person disheveled and dehumanized to the point where they feel like they aren't human enough. This piece represents the dichotomy of this painful reality, using sex in the message to speak to a broader issue around the integration of survivors.
A truly wonderful piece! Will be posting their work to this thread every so often so STAY TUNED!!!
Will cont. in Part #2 tomorrow!
To support their efforts please reshare and donate to their GOFUNDME!
We at Mission GA'AN are creating this GoFundMe to help our head screenwrit… Mission GA'AN needs your support for Join S.I.N’s Mission to End
I reshare this often because I really believe in what their doing
(Top painting: "You're a bitch and bitches die" 4 canvases c. 2026 Bottom painting: "Join The Revolution, Empathy Require" 2 canvases c. 2026)
(Trigger Warning: Modern Slavery, dehumanization, mass murder, child suffering, offensive language)
This duo of paintings are a call to action in their structure relationship and message.
"You're a bitch and bitches die" speaks to the shock, terror and horror that a young slave (between the ages of 2 and 30) has to experience from their masters. Modern slavery means modern overconsumption and over presentation of violence, thusly leading to a memory that is seared into the mind of the survivor even upon escape; one where they carry the lives of every person they saw slaughtered in front of them as a punishment for not choosing to commit the act of murder. Where they carry the fear of a life of seeing endless bodies hanging limp and dead swaying in the wind. It's a grim and somber reality that people must understand to be a dark truth that cannot be ignored. The usage of the word "bitch" in this comes from a place of experiencing the ruthless violence and dehumanization a enslaver is capable of exerting unto their victims. It's perfuse and unyielding and with their bite of cruelty they relegate these human beings to the status of weak dogs, which in the world of human trafficking are treated horrendously as property used for nothing more then to sate their hunger for human suffering. It's hard to see this piece and not know in your heart tt hell truly exists, and not in a fantastical mythological sense; but in a tactile one. This piece is an example of SIN using gouache to really push their psyche to paint the images that lay dormant, to shed a light ever illuminating beyond the shadow that the masters, handlers, and traffickers leave behind in their sinister perverse masquerade they use to hide the truth in the night. Like a sun, bringing the dawn, a fire never to be extinguished.
Join The Revolution, Empathy Require, is a piece that evokes imagery of a protest sign that has seen many days under the sun showing how long and how arduous the journey has been and still will be fighting to permanently end slavery. It speaks to the unshakable empathy that is presently required for effective revolution, non-violent resistance, shifting the culture allowing our psyches to transfer into the cultural consciousness through dynamic usage of diverse mediums. The mixed media approach continues with SIN's signature spray painting style, this time accompanied by gouache paint strokes!
Please check out their process on their Youtube channel! :
They continue to expand and grow their portfolio! Just continuing to be another shining example. A beautiful two spirit masc native with a heart of gold!
Their work continues! Have more of their collection to speak of and gush over!
While my first guy is percolating, I've started work on my second Weird Little Guy:
This guy's gonna be made out of lava, from a book on geology. He still needs horns cut out and attached, and then details drawn in, so right now he mostly looks like a Lumpy Boy. But I already love him so much I have to post him.
Nothing's glued, just masking taped while I cut things out and shade details and whatnot. His eyes are from the text of the book, his teeth are from the solid rock in the lava photo. Details in acrylic paint marker.
Next steps - them horns tho. Today I started cutting them out and coding them to match them up later:
Teeeeeeny tiny pieces.
Originally I wanted to make them out of photos of cow horn. (I briefly considered purchasing and working *actual* cow horn, but besides the difficulty of working with it, I don't think I could get the amount of ombre I wanted in such a tiny amount of horn, anyway.)
But then I realized that I could make them out of gas giants, planetary rings, and nebulae:
And then I also noticed this fish:
Now the practical problem of cutting out exactly those teeny shapes from those papers? That's a problem for tomorrow.
While my first guy is percolating, I've started work on my second Weird Little Guy:
This guy's gonna be made out of lava, from a book on geology. He still needs horns cut out and attached, and then details drawn in, so right now he mostly looks like a Lumpy Boy. But I already love him so much I have to post him.
Nothing's glued, just masking taped while I cut things out and shade details and whatnot. His eyes are from the text of the book, his teeth are from the solid rock in the lava photo. Details in acrylic paint marker.
a totally handmade, fully-functional marionette created for the annual "Winter Exquisite" gallery show (this year's chosen medium was puppetry) at the Forbes Library in Northampton, MA - if you're local, you can visit anytime between the 7th & the end of the month!
for the winter theme, i designed a monster that blends my appreciation of this season's beauty with a more sinister, predatory element representing struggles against seasonal depression. bringing her to life was a huge learning experience & i got to try out a lot of new materials/techniques - i'd never made a marionette before! she took me all January but i'm very pleased with the result.
WOW. I'm local enough to sometimes visit Northampton, but over in NY near Saratoga so unsure if I'm local enough to visit within the next 8 days. 😄 Dang, and we just got snow and freezing rain today.
This piece is AMAZING, though. What will you do with it when it's done in the library? What is the *exact* last day it will be there?
thank you! the exact last day this show will be on view in the library is Saturday, February 27th. at 12:30pm on Sunday, Feb. 28th there will be a closing reception "puppet pageant" where puppeteers will perform and/or demonstrate & discuss the puppets. this is also open to the public!
when i get her back, i will attempt to find somewhere safe in my house to gently hang her up & store her so that my cats don't rip her to pieces. at some point i'll try to take some video of her too.
OK, so, I tried to do a cursory putter through the library's website but didn't see info on this... The exhibit as just puppets you can stare at ends on Saturday (7/27), but on Sunday (7/28) a person could go at 12:30 and see the puppets maybe do stuff? And also we could maybe bother the artists?
Why, that even gives me time to remember what you're supposed to say in the "I like your shoelaces" conversation.
I'm not normally one to whimsically drive to another state to see something like this, but for whatever reason this is the year I went from "I pretty much hate art" to "what if I make TONS of weird little guys out of mixed media?" And you know how converts are the worst zealots.
But I just noticed - 2/27 is FRIDAY and 2/28 is SATURDAY. Pls to clarify?
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