©2011 Julia Forsyth, JEFFERSONIAN FUNK (HEY LADIES), 36" x 24", Acrylic and aluminum foil stars on canvas
Let's talk beginnings. I mean way, way back - this painting has some history creatively from whence it came.
Our kids each received a $2 bill as part of their Christmas presents from their grandparents several months ago. Not being quite as impressed as they should have been with the unique dollars (since they weren't shiny new toys to rip open and break before the day was over), these $2 bills just sat around on my kitchen counter for a while.
I looked at them several times a day as I passed through the kitchen. The more I glanced at the $2 bills, the more I felt connected to them. (Kinda strange, I know...but TJ has that kinda passive magnetism that's difficult to resist.)
I also embarked on a daily drawing challenge on Twitter called #Draw365. Like most resolutions, my output was SIGNIFICANTLY higher in January than in May, but anyway...ahem. I picked up their two dollar bill and really looked at it closely. There's so much to see when you're looking hard, like a detail detective going over a scene for anything you haven't seen before. And that's the whole dang thing!
Switching modes from "slightly registering in my brain little more than a match to a pre-existing basic color, size, and shape match to what holds the spot in my brain for a $2 bill" to "okay, gonna detail-hunt the heck outta every inch of this" is what I do when I start a drawing. So the drawing started, but my pen stayed still. The detailed looking is always the first part of my drawing process.
Gracefully crisscrossing palest-green sinews expanded and contracted into intricately-woven tapestries contrasting delicately again the darkest-green background of the two dollar bill. But this tapestry is like the meat of the border sandwich that the $2 bill sports. It kept my attention as I noticed that it has an outer border and an inner border. The outer border is smaller, more orderly, right-angled...but take a look at the inner border! I just found the excitement in Bordertown. Lots of movement, symmetry without the boring, I think this border mastered the Tango right before it applied for the job.
And that Tango movement really inspired me, as did the dude on the bill. I had to read his banner to remind myself that, "Oh yeah. It was Thomas Jefferson." But I couldn't remember much about him.
So I hit Google. I found out a lot about him. This list hit most of the high points: www.toptenz.net/top-10-facts-about-thomas-jefferson.php. Gotta admire a sloppy-dressin', skeert of public-speakin', wine-guzzlin', violin-playin' Playa who hurt his voilin-playing hand - permanently! - trying to impress a lady. He also didn't mention that he was a US Prez on his tombstone because he had "mixed feeling about politics" after his two terms.
He had so many wonderful achievements and was incredibly intelligent, but he was a complex man of contradictions. I found him relatable in a lot of ways, and cringe-worthy in others. That contradiction in itself makes him relatable, too, when I look back at some of my better and not-so-great choices I've made, too. It was really interesting to learn about him and his history pre-painting.
So, to back up a little and tie up this painting's evolution, it started with the $2 bill gift, which I eventually drew as part of #Draw365 (it was drawing 52) www.flickr.com/photos/juliaforsythart/5469791730/in/photo..., then that drawing became this painting, Jeffersonian Funk (Hey Ladies.)
So grandparents, if you happen to read this, I think the kids would be fascinated with a $100 bill next Christmas...just a thought.
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