"So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing." T.S. Eliot Happy Sunday! How did I not know that T.S. Eliot wore green face paint? Last week, I sat down one night to decide if I could really iron out the clowns or needed to push them under the rug for another week. Before I dove into what feels like avalanche of clowns stuff, I went to grab a snippet from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scraps of which I have been tucking into the opening letter, little bits of dandelion dust. Clowns hovering in the periphery, I did an idle search.... and there it was.
I thought the clown series was awesome and very relatable. I think the bird series must have been before I had discovered you or illustrateyourweek, but I went back to look at it and I think it's wonderful! I am always inspired by your posts!
These clowns are fascinating to me! I like the series you created.
I don’t care for dystopian fiction anymore. It’s begun to feel too much like foreshadowing lately. My favorite of the genre is “alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank.
I will return to Sunday drawing next week & look forward to seeing you all.
I have always loved dystopian fiction. My latest favorite is Station Eleven. The Handmaid’s Tale was a favorite of my youth, but I agree with Kiersten that the current situation makes it feel possible.
I’m definitely a Cirque du Soleil clown person.
My affirmation: I choose to be happy and love myself today
I take no issue with clowns and have trouble understanding why they are so off-putting to so many. Maybe the inability to read the face, which supports our tendency to want to make assessments about who stands before us? So, a lack of trust, at its roots? I will admit, though, that all clowns seem sad to me - even the ones who work to be funny. Hiding behind a painted on smile is unsettling for me. Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe that's where the aforementioned lack of trust comes from? All that to say, I like your clown series, but it may be that others don't quite know how to relate to it/them.
Though I've read some dystopian novels in my time, I seldom gravitate toward them and find I forget them. The one I remember best (not to be confused with a "favorite") is Animal Farm, but Ender's Game, The Giver, 1984 are all buried in my brain somewhere. I watched Hunger Games but never read the book. I do wonder, sometimes, if this whole Earth thing is really just a giant experiment run by other, more intelligent, beings. 😬
An affirmation I need this month: Trust that the right path will reveal itself.
I just finished Cloud Cuckoo Land and it absolutely had a thread of dystopian future in it. It was beautiful, optimistic, and a wonderful love letter to librarianship and bibliophiles.
Amy, thank you for helping me sort out how my writing has gone this last year. I’m always taking notes for thing to write about. I call them WAMs, for Write About Me. Your notes made me realize that I seldom draw on WAMs, because the Universe brings me something to write about every week. Each essay springs forth like Minerva from the head of Zeus, already fully formed.
I’ll still keep taking notes. Maybe there will come a time where what to write about doesn’t just appear. I keep track of poems and photos, too. But every week, enough stuff just comes up. I wonder if this happens to you, too?
Sorry, don’t read much dystopian fiction. Real times are dystopian enough for me. Save the giant insect for another day.
I’ve always been fascinated by masks. It frustrated me that people close chose to wear different masks. Only showing the truly ugly to select few while everyone else got to see the diamond studded pretty masks.
After much soul searching, I realised I wear my own masks. Mine may not be ugly or fit for royalty, it still segues as my own protection against others.
As for the clowns. I have no problem with them. My other half HATES them. I came to the relationship with a porcelain clown. For years “Henry” the clown lived on the spare bed. Then he got relegated to the cupboard. So one day I’m at work and I take a phone call. “your stupid clown just jumped on me”
I was equal parts concerned (for Henry who ended up with stitches - aka glue) and hysterical 😂 Henry is long gone now his masked face was never quite the same after his misadventure 🤭
I love drawing face painted faces, I think they add an extra layer of difficulty to the portrait - your collection is fabulous!
I’m late to the reading party this week! I love dystopian novels. I don’t read a ton of them regularly, and some of my favorites are mentioned above. I read Alas, Babylon in the 1980s—a suggestion from my mother.
When I was 3, I saw the circus in the same colosseum that my father graduated from college in one week later. Clowns made a big impression on me, apparently. When all the professors marched in with black gowns and colorful hoods, I yelled out, “Oooo, look at the clowns!” Which got a big laugh from everyone around us. This is the story I’ve been told all my life!
I think clowns were ruined for succeeding generations after Stephen King’s It came out. In 1980 I dressed as a clown for Halloween and no one was talking about being scared of clowns.
I thought the clown series was awesome and very relatable. I think the bird series must have been before I had discovered you or illustrateyourweek, but I went back to look at it and I think it's wonderful! I am always inspired by your posts!
These clowns are fascinating to me! I like the series you created.
I don’t care for dystopian fiction anymore. It’s begun to feel too much like foreshadowing lately. My favorite of the genre is “alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank.
I will return to Sunday drawing next week & look forward to seeing you all.
I have always loved dystopian fiction. My latest favorite is Station Eleven. The Handmaid’s Tale was a favorite of my youth, but I agree with Kiersten that the current situation makes it feel possible.
I’m definitely a Cirque du Soleil clown person.
My affirmation: I choose to be happy and love myself today
I’m no fan of clowns but love your drawings for some unknowable reason. Not knowing is part of the pleasure.
I take no issue with clowns and have trouble understanding why they are so off-putting to so many. Maybe the inability to read the face, which supports our tendency to want to make assessments about who stands before us? So, a lack of trust, at its roots? I will admit, though, that all clowns seem sad to me - even the ones who work to be funny. Hiding behind a painted on smile is unsettling for me. Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe that's where the aforementioned lack of trust comes from? All that to say, I like your clown series, but it may be that others don't quite know how to relate to it/them.
Though I've read some dystopian novels in my time, I seldom gravitate toward them and find I forget them. The one I remember best (not to be confused with a "favorite") is Animal Farm, but Ender's Game, The Giver, 1984 are all buried in my brain somewhere. I watched Hunger Games but never read the book. I do wonder, sometimes, if this whole Earth thing is really just a giant experiment run by other, more intelligent, beings. 😬
An affirmation I need this month: Trust that the right path will reveal itself.
Thanks, Amy!
I always look forward to your illustrated journal pages! And these clown illustrations are wonderful and deeply fascinating!
I just finished Cloud Cuckoo Land and it absolutely had a thread of dystopian future in it. It was beautiful, optimistic, and a wonderful love letter to librarianship and bibliophiles.
Favorite dystopian novel? The Hunger Games, all three books. (And all four movies. I am compelled to watch them whenever they are on TV.) Brilliant.
Amy, thank you for helping me sort out how my writing has gone this last year. I’m always taking notes for thing to write about. I call them WAMs, for Write About Me. Your notes made me realize that I seldom draw on WAMs, because the Universe brings me something to write about every week. Each essay springs forth like Minerva from the head of Zeus, already fully formed.
I’ll still keep taking notes. Maybe there will come a time where what to write about doesn’t just appear. I keep track of poems and photos, too. But every week, enough stuff just comes up. I wonder if this happens to you, too?
Sorry, don’t read much dystopian fiction. Real times are dystopian enough for me. Save the giant insect for another day.
I’ve always been fascinated by masks. It frustrated me that people close chose to wear different masks. Only showing the truly ugly to select few while everyone else got to see the diamond studded pretty masks.
After much soul searching, I realised I wear my own masks. Mine may not be ugly or fit for royalty, it still segues as my own protection against others.
As for the clowns. I have no problem with them. My other half HATES them. I came to the relationship with a porcelain clown. For years “Henry” the clown lived on the spare bed. Then he got relegated to the cupboard. So one day I’m at work and I take a phone call. “your stupid clown just jumped on me”
I was equal parts concerned (for Henry who ended up with stitches - aka glue) and hysterical 😂 Henry is long gone now his masked face was never quite the same after his misadventure 🤭
I love drawing face painted faces, I think they add an extra layer of difficulty to the portrait - your collection is fabulous!
I loved your clown series, Amy!
“Your perspective is unique. It’s important and it counts.” -Glenn Close
I’m late to the reading party this week! I love dystopian novels. I don’t read a ton of them regularly, and some of my favorites are mentioned above. I read Alas, Babylon in the 1980s—a suggestion from my mother.
When I was 3, I saw the circus in the same colosseum that my father graduated from college in one week later. Clowns made a big impression on me, apparently. When all the professors marched in with black gowns and colorful hoods, I yelled out, “Oooo, look at the clowns!” Which got a big laugh from everyone around us. This is the story I’ve been told all my life!
I think clowns were ruined for succeeding generations after Stephen King’s It came out. In 1980 I dressed as a clown for Halloween and no one was talking about being scared of clowns.