I made a painting

For some reason over winter i started doing a lot of art with cats. Or at least more than usual. In my final studio visit with faculty one thing they said was the (invisible) work wasn't as strong as it could be because it wasn't specific enough. They seemed a little put off that i was making art about death and coping mechanisms because it's interesting, and not because someone close to me died. So trying to be open-minded, and resisting the urge to snidely say "I did that kind of shit in high school," (but i still said it), i embarked on making good art out of emotional baggage. Which i've never really been good at. One of the interesting things that actually happened is this little painting of a cat named Mate', who died. First i painted the cat from a photo, and I used the same technique as when i painted over the snapshots in the Fall. But obviously instead painted out the painted image. Here's the two steps, but only the last one is the actual finished piece.

I think this also brings up my issue with truth, in that, as far as the audience is concerned, i didn't really need to paint the first step. And i don't necessarily care that they believe me, but I know the truth, and that for me is where the power of the piece lies. I'm still sorting through all my thoughts on this issue, so hopefully the chance (or responsibility) to write about it in a semi-public forum will help. Anyway, next i will post photos of my upholstery projects from my winter class, so stay tuned for more cats and ghosts!!