I painted this background watercolor of a cold, dark, rainy day. The kind of day that usually wears me down... the grayness of the external world bleeding into me, oppressing me.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8x_l8HlNddfaPVdpDrcvAcJl08n4ujq8N2o7Q6-wPHQfL-TT6FrsQK_D5bprVPcSg_scPUEFksTiIScfo8BrF7GfVgvlfKMGE2_0rBIOCFy7b3V3xjRfqWMUSGiNIBHUqANSGqOazBa8x/s1600/S&L+1.jpg) |
Silver & Lead, 2015. Watercolor, graphite and pearl cotton hand embroidery. |
But not that day. I felt passionate and alive. Yellow and red. I could see the bitterness of the atmosphere around me, but it did not touch me.
I wondered at my alchemical good luck. I searched for signs. But I'm a rational person, not prone to believing in mysterious forces. So I found none.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiex4Xk93MJcbqmDm1E_GQGXsg4ySpaMfBAXRsX9Wfzn-b1RaGySAlX1FE8_L0d9X-JnwaD_1arEEwPw4pe2MxMGMX-ZFrLojJtXc7O1JlCvAIkTuQclnIpzzT6UlN-pkWQKjy7MsN1Ckxs/s1600/s&L+detail.jpg) |
Detail from Silver & Lead, 2015. |
But still, I penciled in a few alchemical symbols on the piece, for silver and lead. Fortune and hard work.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaYzTiaudyIzANtu4-JW8uh2Q_177AGbhOwQSI53iNqDBsoJz-Pd8CleaDe8SGMLpNh7yoD9ey2C8d0mnQzX1osmoo9MPk0JTd8DgTavSg4ax98ukEHS9aXJ4VwA3DLcAxyQkBiC6Elrn/s1600/s&L+2.jpg) |
8 x 10 inches. |
The symbols are there, under the thread. Everything is there, under the thread.