Gritty Good Work & Grace for Grief

A few years back I was embraced in the light of the Dark Ya Ya's. A book-club chapter in Salt Lake City that will forever burn in a memory of nurturing nostalgia. Think...decadent meals paired with witty women, stomach aching laughter, honest literary lauds and fails, and bonding as bitches with Soul Train. 

There were only a few books that were round-table acclaimed. One of them was Patti Smiths "Just Kids." It was an inspiring read for a closet painter who had subterfuged her talent for years. Patti Smith emerged from the literal ranks of the starving artists during the Chelsea Hotel era in NYC. Her past experience combined with her modern advice offer sage words for the creative types of today. Heralding integrity with gritty good work. In an interview last year Patti Smith said, 

 "A writer or any artist can't expect to be embraced by the people."
 “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work. Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency."
 "I say...stay strong. Have fun. Stay clean. Stay healthy. You have a lot of challenges ahead. Be happy!" 

In "Just Kids" she references some of the challenges of loss, and heartbreak in her own life. As I was organizing my bookshelf this past spring, I picked up the book and thumbed through the last few pages. There was a passage that lept off the pages at me. It was a description of a picture of her grief, after her dear friend Robert Mapplethorpe died.

"This wild sensation stayed with me for some days. I was certain it couldn't be detected. But perhaps my grief was more apparent than I knew, for my husband packed us all up and we drove south. We found a motel by the sea and camped there for the Easter holiday. Up and down the deserted beach I walked in my black wind coat. I felt within its asymmetrical roomy folds like a princess or a monk. I know Robert would have appreciated this picture: a white sky, a gray sea, and this singular black coat.

Finally, by the sea, where God is everywhere, I gradually calmed. I stood looking at the sky. The clouds were the colors of a Raphael. A wounded rose. I had the sensation he had painted it himself. You will see him. You will know him. You will know his hand. These words came to me..." -Patti Smith, Just Kids

After re-reading these passages, this expressionist painter took on the scene with a multifaceted interpretation. I painted a work I entitled "Grace for Grief." 

"Grace for Grief." 2013. 5x7 Acrylics on clayboard.

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