Introducing: “Thank you, Piggies” Thyroid Art

I hope this finds you basking, truly relishing your days. Or – as I said in an eNews – going through st*ff and using that to fertilise your growth! I am amazed that I got to go away on the weekend – it’s been a while – and today am wearing a cute wraparound skirt that I bought in Mildura (a big regional centre we went to which is 5 hours drive from Adelaide).

Artist Dress Ups

Last month I dressed up as Frida Kahlo and went to Adelaide Comicon. It was really fun researching her, there were lots of visual references both in her art and in photographs. A few people at Comicon even recognised who I was meant to be, which was gratifying.

I kind of wish Frida Kahlo was alive still – she’d definitely be on my dream dinner party guest list (that allows time travel)! Given that I may well not have a TARDIS anytime soon, I’m grateful that she went ahead and made art that told her story – very inspiring. Are you, like me, still learning to tell your story? It’s certainly a process, even just learning to understand that ‘…your voice is good enough’. Frida Kahlo didn’t think of herself as a surrealist – she was just telling her story the way she knew how. We can all do that much, right? Which is a sweet, neat segue to our post topic for today:

 Thyroid Art – Woman Artist makes artwork about health issue

The thyroid gland know is a butterfly shaped gland in our necks, it controls the speed of all the metabolic functions in your body. If it malfunctions, the results are serious and dark.

I have some thyroid issues. I wont go into it here, but Not Good. My saving grace has been thyroid extract, made from dessicated pig thyroid. (Sorry to have to tell you that, vegan and vegetarian friends). This new artwork I made, “Thank You, Piggies” is a self portrait with gratitude, in appreciation of pigs who give such quality to human life through medicine. The angel pig is a shoulder-dwelling Meg Whisperer. And the butterfly-shaped thyroid gland illustrated by… a butterfly! More about that below.

One of my thyroid symptoms was that I frequently felt very cold. In retrospect we can deduce that’s why I’m so rugged up in the picture – to counter the chill.

This is a limited handpainted print run of just 10. Here ^^ are some at various stages of the thyroid art being painted.

These lino prints are *also* One of a Kind Watercolours – even more so than usual! This is the first time I’ve drawn extra pen and ink detail into a picture after printing. The hand drawing on the butterfly makes a focal point for more detailed colour work:

When choosing colours I was influenced by the rainbow of the chakra colours. I painted green on her clothes near her (my) heart moving to blue near the neck. The throat chakra can represent ‘being heard’ and that ‘your voice is good enough’ as well as the throat being the physical location of the thyroid. Good to remember!

I decided that the jewel colours on the butterfly indicated healing/shining.

Here ^^ is a close up of one of the prints getting peeled off the lino block. (It’s not easy to take a photograph while doing this!) This is the most spectacular part of the process in many ways – certainly the stage that gets the most gasps when I’m doing a demonstration :)

This is a time lapse video I made of the thyroid art lino printing process, which includes a rare, non-smiling photo of me, pondering thyroid malfunction consequences:

The super cosy cardigan in the picture was actually beige! Ha, you can tell I was ill if I was wearing beige – not my colour! I couldn’t be bothered dyeing it (plus: WAY too hot now) so it’s gone to another loving home via the op shop. Loving the pink overlaid with green – I was messing around with colours, thinking a pink cardy would be nice. Decided green was better, painted over the pink and liked the effect so much that I have replicated it (uniquely) on each of the prints!

I am finishing doing the painting of the 10 as we ‘speak’. This thyroid art/pig celebration image is also available as a greeting card – there’s no other thyroid-related greeting card out there like it! Click on the artwork picture (first pic after Frida) or click this to check it out in the Bold Art Emporium.

Leave us a comment if you have a thyroid art connection. (No need to tell us anyone’s medical stuff – even yours – that’s private!)

Take care of you,
Much love,
Meg x o

 

PS If you know someone who’d enjoy this, I’d love if you’d pass it on. One way is to click on your favourite sharing buttons below!

 

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