A Fine line!

Title: A Fine line!

Medium: Acrylic paint, canvas, tempura paint, tortilla flour for texture, painted with casings from used shotgun shells and high caliber weaponry that were detritus from Artception series.  

Enriching music: I walk the line, Johnny Cash; Jump in the Line, Harry Belafonte

By Clara Guzman Herrera

Behind this piece: The undercoat of this painting was done with smooth acrylic, white. The original yellow line was also smooth yellow acrylic. It sat there for about three months. It didn't look right. I put it back on the easel one evening and just looked at it under light in the darkness of my backyard. I probably stared at it for an hour while listening to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2. Then I decided it needed texture and growth. It just became after that: Tempura white came into play, but wasn't thick enough so I added tortilla flour. But just using a paint brush wasn't enough, so the entire whiteness of its texture was painted with the butt of a shotgun shell. The yellow line was painted with the butt of .38 rifle shell. Both of these casings were remnants of my oldest boy and my failed hunting adventures and successful art adventures in the Artception series.

I don't know what it means exactly - painting with used shells from guns and tortilla flour. But, if I had to self-analyze, I'd think it was a testament to my role as a parent, and woman: Taking on the masculine role of hunting and shooting guns with my son, as well as the feminine role, cooking in the kitchen making copious homemade tortillas for my children and their friends. It is the Yin and Yang of single parenting, y'all. 

If you've ever heard yin, yang, and y'all used in the same sentence, you just let me know! ~ Clara